


RWBY: Reunion

by thepudz



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Blood, Bumblebee - Freeform, Dismemberment, F/F, F/M, Feels, Fights, Fluff, Lesbian Sex, Post-volume 4, Renora, Reunion, Revenge, Sex, Stabbing, Whiterose, arkos, snowbirds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-28 09:02:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 61,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10828080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepudz/pseuds/thepudz
Summary: "We were given a simple task. Go out, kill Grimm, come back. But it all went so wrong... Now Weiss is in a coma, Ruby can barely move and Blake... Blake came back after running away for so long, and we... We aren't on good terms. I thought things couldn't get any worse. But now... Neo's back. She wants revenge for what happened to Roman. She wants our blood. She wants our heads and our suffering. She won't stop until we're dead." - Yang Xiao LongOriginally posted on Fanfiction.net





	1. Please Don't Go

"I'm starting to think that this point, this was all just a rumor."

Ruby walked alongside Weiss in the empty wasteland of what used to be known as Kuroyuri, following the direction of what appeared to be a large Grimm. Its cry was heard a couple of hours ago, and since, Ruby, Weiss and Yang had decided to go after it, as many citizens were talking about the specific Grimm heading for the city of Mistral.

"Weiss, I _heard_ that cry, it is not a rumor! I'm willing to bet my darling Crescent Rose on it." Ruby smirked.

"Are you really?" Weiss responded with some attitude in her voice. Ruby kept a smile up, but it quickly faded.

"No." She squeaked.

"Come on, guys! Less talking, more moving!" Yang called out from behind. Yang was particularly excited for the upcoming fight, as it would be the first big Grimm she fought in a while. Yang had reunited with Ruby only five days ago, and Weiss was three. However, there was still one more member missing…

Yang's thoughts of that member were abruptly cut when the same roar heard hours ago echoed throughout the land, slightly shaking the ground. "I think this confirms it as more than a rumor, Weiss!" Ruby cried out over the loud roar, resulting in a dirty look from the girl.

The next sound to follow was the loud stomping of multiple Grimm approaching the team's location. "We're gonna have company!" Yang grinned as her Ember Celica was activated, covering both arms and emitting the familiar and beautiful sound of locking and loading. Ruby activated her Crescent Rose, digging the scythe into the ground and looking through the scope, preparing for any incoming Grimm. Weiss spun the revolver in Myrtenaster, going with the power of ice for long range attacks. They aimed at the forest ahead of them, where Grimm would surely erupt from.

"I don't know about you guys," Ruby grinned as she cocked the Crescent Rose back. "But this brings back memories for me!"

"Yeah…" Yang trailed off. _It does, but we're missing one person…_ Yang shook her head immediately, removing the thought from her mind. "Yeah, it sure does!"

The tension rose to incredible levels as the multiple steps of Grimm approached further and further, getting louder and louder, heavier and heavier… Ruby couldn't help but feel her heart rate pick up at a rapid pace, and her entire team went along with it.

Then, the first Grimm appeared from within the bushes. A basic Beowulf. However, many more started appearing alongside it, until Ruby counted a dozen. She fired her Crescent Rose, and the rest of the team followed, Yang punching multiple long range shots and Weiss firing a mix of fire and ice dust. The Grimm didn't stand a chance against the weapons, but of course, that wasn't all of them. Many more started showing up.

The girls kept firing, and for every one they killed, two more took its place. The girls could keep their defense up, but it wasn't going to last much longer. Tried as they might, the first Beowulf broke past their shots, and Ruby knew shooting was no longer going to work at this range.

She quickly transformed her weapon into its beautiful scythe, and spun, swinging and slicing straight through the first Grimm. She activated her semblance, speeding towards a group of Creeps and slicing one, before speeding towards the next slicing that one. She kept that pattern up, before backing away. The horde was too much for one huntress.

Then again, that's what teams are for, right?

Weiss held her sword up the side of her head, charging forward, and Ruby followed. Weiss and Ruby expertly took down enemy after enemy, with Ruby slicing each one and Weiss using her Glyphs and many Dust powers to take down the stronger opponents.

"Death Stalker!" Ruby called out as the scorpion looking Grimm emerged from the bushes. Weiss knew exactly what to do. She activated two Glyphs, one right in front of her and one behind her and high up. She jumped into the Glyph before her, and it launched her backwards and high into the air. She hit the second Glyph, and it shot her towards the stinger. She sliced through it enough to dangle it, and Weiss quickly shot ice dust into the Death Stalker's feet, freezing it in place. Weiss then summoned a Glyph right behind Ruby.

Ruby followed the plan, jumping back into the pattern and launching into the air, before slicing into the stinger with ease, dropping it straight onto the Grimm and killing it.

"Don't think I'm missing out on this one!" Ruby and Weiss heard Yang shout as she shot into the ground behind her, launching herself forward into the hoard of Ursa with a grin on her face. With a new right arm, her punches pack a lot more heat, and this proved obvious as the first Grimm was down in one hit by her right arm. Yang saw the group of Ursa around her, and shot into the ground, launching into the air. She spun around, and came down with a punch in the ground, creating a huge shockwave and obliterating all Grimm in the affected area.

All Grimm were killed, but the team was still uneasy. No way was that it, something _big_ had to be a part of that pack. Ruby dropped a clip out of her Crescent Rose, and slammed a new one in, readying herself for any new enemies.

Sure enough, loud stomps were heard in the distance. They were… unrecognizable. These stomps didn't belong to any Grimm that the team had ever heard of before. Sure enough, trees fell in the distance as the stomps got louder and louder, heavier and heavier…

Before suddenly, the forest burst open and the largest Grimm the team has ever seen emerged from within. The Grimm was _gigantic_ , almost representing a human but _thirty times larger_. The Grimm had white armor plating around its chest, back, front of its legs and all around its head. The only weak spot visible was its neck. The Grimm also carried a weapon, an overly large club that could crush anyone under its weight.

"Well, now we know for sure that wasn't just a _rumor_!" Yang called out.

"I'm starting to wish I paid more attention in class…" Ruby shuddered as the giant took another step, shattering the land before them. "Weiss, any idea what the heck this thing is?!"

"N-No… But from observing it, it seems the weak spot in the neck. Decapitation should finish it off." Weiss instructed as she faced Ruby, and the red colored girl nodded. "Get back to Kuroyuri, we can confuse it with the buildings there!"

The three girls pushed back into the village, and the giant followed at a walking pace. It certainly wasn't the fastest Grimm out there. They all got behind the tallest building, hiding from the giant. Its perception didn't seem good at all as it fumbled to search for the Huntresses. "When it goes past us, get behind it. I need you to launch us at its neck, Weiss. Yang will go first to do some damage, Weiss will go second to freeze it in place and land some more hits in, and I'll come and slice it off." Ruby instructed with a grin.

"Got it." Yang grinned as she reloaded her gauntlets, cocking them and readying them for action. The giant stomped around, smashing some buildings with its club, destroying them in one hit, proving the strength of the weapon. However, little to the Grimm's knowledge, the three girls had gotten behind it. Weiss summoned a Glyph behind Ruby, Yang and herself. She launched Yang first, and she flew through the air at a rapid speed, keeping up the airtime by firing her Ember Celica behind her, before landing on the monster's shoulder. She punched the neck as hard as possible multiple times in a row, causing the giant to roar in pain.

The giant raised a hand to squash Yang on its shoulder, and she quickly jumped to the other side. However, the giant _rapidly_ shot the club up, smashing Yang in the air and shooting her back down into the ground. A crater formed where she hit, but both Ruby and Weiss knew she'd survive that hit. "It looks like it can accomplish bursts of speed at a time. Be careful." Ruby warned.

Weiss launched up, preparing her ice dust to freeze the giant's legs and neck. However, before she could even get a chance to land, the giant quickly spun around and grabbed the ice queen. Her Myrtenaster slipped out of her hand as she was grabbed, and she was now unarmed and _terrified_.

" _WEISS!_ " Ruby cried out. Out of desperation, she sped forward and up, trying to go for the neck. Of course, the giant noticed this, and swung its club, smashing it straight into Ruby. She flew through the air and straight into the stone building. Yang saw the whole thing, her eyes completely widening in shock. _R-Ruby?! That… That was so unlike you, to get so desperate like that…_

Weiss couldn't even speak as she saw Ruby take a hit and be heavily injured. She soon couldn't speak for another reason: The giant was squeezing its hand, crushing her. She could make a sound however: She was screaming in utter pain. The giant threw Weiss up as if she were some sort of baseball, and as if playing the game, the giant batted Weiss with its club, knocking her into the ground where Ruby laid.

With both Ruby and Weiss out of fight, it was up to Yang to finish it. Without the strength of the giant itself, this fight was hopeless.

Lucky for Yang, she _did_ have that strength.

She slowly stood up, her eyes closed. The giant looked down at the girl as she stood up. "You…" Yang opened her eyes and, as expected, they were hellish red. She smashed her two fists together as she erupted into flames, her hair glowing and blazing. "Don't you dare hurt my team, you _BASTARD!_ "

The giant tried to stomp down on her, but she rolled out of the way, immediately going for its feet. Normally with a Grimm this size, a shot at the feet would do little damage to bring it down. But when Yang was pissed, it would _hurt_. She swung multiple burning blows into the giant's ankle, and it cried out in pain, kneeling and dropping its head. Yang shot up, upper cutting the neck and knocking it onto its back.

She jumped up, ready to drop a fist onto its neck, but the giant used its speed burst to swing the club at Yang, knocking her back down to the ground. She landed on her feet, slightly sliding back, looking up, angrier than ever. The giant quickly got up as Yang charged towards it, firing a shot into the ground behind her and launching at its ankle. The giant attempted to stop Yang in her path by swinging its club down, but all it took was for Yang to punch the swinging weapon and it backfired, stumbling the giant backwards. All the while, Yang kept going for the ankles.

She switched between both feet, trying to hopefully take off one of the limbs and cripple the beast. Yang charged all of her strength into her right arm, and with a scream, smashed it straight into the right foot, bringing the giant down again. Yang launched rapid punches at the giant's neck yet again, but the Grimm would not die. It grabbed Yang, but this was a _huge_ mistake. Yang punched the hand squeezed around her, and the giant let go of her out of pain. As soon as Yang hit the ground, she jumped back to avoid the knee coming her way as the monster stood up.

Using its speed, the monster raised a foot and stomped it on Yang. She immediately raised her arms up to stop the crushing weight, but it was much stronger than she thought. She gritted her teeth, using every ounce of strength to push the foot away, but it was all hopeless.

The weight kept coming down and down, as hard as Yang tried, she just wasn't as strong as it. She was practically squatting with how low the foot was. _This… This can't be it!_

Just when the giant thought it had succeeded, it felt a sharp blade land in its neck. The Grimm roared, weakening itself enough for Yang to escape the stomp. She looked up to see the blade in the giant's neck. _Who did that?_

The blade had a black string connected to it, and controlling that black string was…

" _Blake?!_ "

Blake stood atop one of the buildings, her Gambol Shroud blade sunken into the beast's neck. She yanked the weapon back, bringing the giant her way enough for her to jump up onto its shoulder. She used her cleaver sheath to slice at its neck yet again, doing even more damage. The beast attempted to grab her, but she back flipped out of the way, dragging her blade out of the Grimm's neck and bringing it back into her hand. She landed right next to Yang, who was still having trouble believing her eyes.

"I think you and I know that now is not the time to talk. Let's just take this thing down, fast." Blake instructed in a determined tone. "You know what to do right?"

"Bumblebee?" Yang asked. Blake nodded.

"Bumblebee."

The giant roared at the two girls as Yang started launching backwards. Blake fired her weapon at the beast's neck, weakening it just slightly, before suddenly throwing her blade at Yang. The blonde caught it, and started rapidly moving to the right as Blake spun her, attempting to tie the black string around the giant's ankles. The giant tried to hit Yang, but to no avail. In no time, it was strung up, and with no way to control its feet, it fell forward.

Yang threw the blade back at Blake, and she caught it, sheathing it. She ran forward, jumped up, and swiped her cleaver. The neck was like hot butter under the sharpness, and the Grimm's head fell off its neck, hitting the ground below. The Grimm soon dissolved into nothing as Blake landed next to Yang. Yang was panting from the exhaustion of the fight, and she caught Blake's worried gaze towards her.

"So…" Blake said awkwardly, trying to find something to say. Yang cut her off.

"So you've finally decided to show up, huh?! After _months_ of being gone, you finally show your damn face!" Yang yelled. Blake expected this, and she winced. "Why did you run, Blake?!"

"It was Adam! If I stuck around with the team, who knows how long it would be before someone else was died or…" Blake trailed off as the memories of when Yang's arm was cut started flooding back.

"We are a team for a reason, Blake! Teams stick together! One incident doesn't mean he's invincible! If you thought you were being selfless, you were _wrong_. I had to suffer without you for so long!" Yang continued yelling, and Blake took every word of it. "But don't you _dare_ blame yourself for what happened to me! If you have spent all these months thinking it was your fault that my arm got chopped, then you're more selfish than I thought! I made the choice to try and save you, and the stupid choice to charge head on. It was nobody's fault but my own. I just saw you hurt and… I lost control…"

Yang seemed to have finished her yelling, and Blake only responded with two words.

"Hit me."

Yang raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wha?"

"Hit me! Don't hold a damn thing back, punch me with everything you've got! I won't block it, it's what I deserve!" Blake _screamed_. Yang's eyes widened slightly at her outburst, but she soon closed them tightly, and opened them to reveal her red pupils.

" _GLADLY!_ " She screamed her lungs raw as she raised a fist up. She kept it there for some time, her teeth grit, and her eyes burning red, her hair blazing. But she wasn't swinging. She was just holding her arm up in the air, slightly shaking. Blake was utterly confused, until she saw the stinging tears forming in the corner of Yang's red eyes.

"Yang? Are you-"

" _DON'T TALK!_ Don't make this any harder on me than it already has to be!" Yang screamed. One of the tears streaked down her cheek as her fist shook rapidly. Was she really going to punch Blake? Her partner? Her friend?

Her _crush?_

Her fist immediately dropped, and she sighed. "Blake, I… I can't hit you…"

Blake tried to stretch out an arm to help Yang, but the two girls immediately heard Ruby's cry from a distance. "Weiss? Weiss?!"

Yang and Blake looked at each other, before sprinting towards Ruby's voice. She was kneeling over Weiss' unconscious body, and while Ruby only had a few injuries on her arms and legs, Weiss looked heavily injured, some blood streaking down her forehead. With the way she was crushed, who knew what the internal injuries would be?

"She's… She's barely _breathing!_ " Ruby called out. "We need to get her to Mistral, I… I don't know how long she can last!"

"Blake, pick her up, you're the least injured out of us! I'll call for someone to pick us up and take us to Mistral" Yang instructed. Blake immediately picked up Weiss, sprinting after Yang as she headed for an evacuation point. Ruby followed the team as desperately as she could, despite her injuries. Her legs stung from all the cuts, and her arms bled, but she kept pushing and pushing. All the while, one thought echoing in Ruby's head…

_Weiss… Please don't go…_


	2. Not Your Fault

_“WEISS!”_

_Ruby froze for a second as utter horror overtook her when she saw that Weiss was now in the huge hands of that giant. She could see Weiss struggling to get out, but it was no hope. Ruby needed to do something, fast. She attempted the first thing that came to mind, using her semblance to speed up into the air and hack at the wrist._

_What a stupid idea that was. But she was desperate, dammit! She regretted the decision almost immediately as a heavy weight smashed into her left side, and she felt herself launch through the air. The hit was hard, but she was still conscious, and it didn’t feel like she had broken anything. She couldn’t even get up however, but she could see what was happening to Weiss._

_And Ruby had never felt more scared in her life. The giant crushed its hand, and Weiss screamed out in pain. Ruby tried to call out her name, but no sound came out. It was all a blur, but she could see Weiss being thrown into the air, before being batted down to the concrete next to Ruby. She was unconscious, and was definitely in a worse state than Ruby._

_Ruby could barely move, and she felt her energy being drained, but with the last of her strength, and she reached out a hand, placing it in Weiss’. “I’m sorry…” She could barely croak._

_“I’m so sorry…”_

* * *

 

“Ruby!”

Ruby Rose awoke from her nightmare, looking around the Mistral hospital room. She was lying in a bed, a white cover over her waist. Her whole body ached. She looked to her left to see Yang, her arm on Ruby’s shoulder. “Bad dream?” Yang asked, to which Ruby quietly nodded. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. We got here last night and we’ve been here for a couple of hours.”

Ruby looked out the window to her right to see the sun was out and blazing, so it must be midday. She calculated that she’s been here for at least twelve hours. Yang wrapped her arms around her sister, holding her close. “I’m just… So glad you’re fine… I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.” She spoke softly. Ruby snapped a quick glance at the bionic arm, now in full view with Yang’s weapons off. “If there’s some good news in this, the whole city appreciates our actions in taking down that giant. You’re a hero to them, Ruby.” Yang smiled.

Although Ruby was happy to hear those words, another thing was on her mind. A certain girl. Ruby tightly shut her eyes, before speaking.

“Where’s Weiss? Is she okay?!” Her voice was in obvious desperation, and her eyes matched the tone. “Can I go see her?!” Ruby tried to get up out of her bad, but a sharp pain shot through her body, and Yang softly laid Ruby on the bed.

“Whoa there, tiger. You’re in no state to be moving just yet, for starters. You’ll be out in a couple of days, though. Ready to fight again.” Yang grinned. Soon after her expression dropped, knowing she had to tell the news about Weiss. “Weiss… I can’t sugarcoat it, Ruby. We don’t know if she’ll pull through. She had a lot of internal injuries and she’s in a comatose state. She’s in the room next door, and I promise you’ll get to see her as soon as you can move.”

Ruby was silent, her mood was obvious. She was devastated. She dropped back in her bed, not knowing whether to scream or cry or do anything. “I’ll give you some time alone, Ruby.” Yang said softly, knowing she can’t do much to help out. “I’m sorry.”

Yang walked towards the door, opening it up. Before she left, Ruby said one last thing.

“I love her, Yang.”

Yang froze, turning to Ruby, who was still staring at the ceiling, not knowing what to feel or do. “I really love her.”

Yang was silent as the words hung in the air for the longest of times, before Yang responded. “I know you do.”

Ruby closed her eyes, and Yang knew she had to leave. She softly closed the door, making a reminder to check up on Ruby in about half an hour. First thing she needed to do was check up on someone. A _very special_ someone.

Luckily, she was right outside the door, waiting for Yang. The two locked eyes, Yang’s a look of aggression, hers a look of worry. “Blake.” Yang seethed. Blake looked into the room to Ruby, sighing.

“I hope your sister will be okay. She’s a tough girl. So is Weiss. They’ll pull through.” Blake attempted to comfort Yang, who didn’t respond in turn. She just kept that glare, shooting it right into Blake’s very soul, and scaring the crap out of her.

“We need to talk.”

* * *

 

They soon found themselves outside the hospital’s front door and out of earshot. There was a thick silence between the two as they looked at anything but each other. Finally, Yang spoke up. “You’re allowed to speak, Blake. I want to know why you ran and where you went.”

“I already told you. I ran to Menagerie to reunite with my parents and keep you guys safe from Adam. I wanted to protect you-“

“You assume we couldn’t protect _ourselves?_ ” Yang immediately snapped back. “There must’ve been a deeper reason than that.”

“I didn’t want what happened to you to happen to anyone else!” Blake finally confessed. Yang quickly shot a stare towards her, staying totally still. _Blake’s obviously been building up some emotions over the last half year… I think she’s about to release them._

“When I had to see you lose your arm, that image was scarred deep into my mind and I _still_ can’t get it out! And I didn’t want anyone else to be hurt like that! I couldn’t sleep for so many days after what happened because I was too busy _crying!_ The only way I could be at peace is if I knew Adam wasn’t going to hurt you. That he was going to cut off _my_ arm, or stab _my_ chest, or just straight up _kill me_ -“

“ _STOP!_ ” Yang screamed, startling Blake. “Don’t say those things, please! I don’t want anything to happen to you!”

“But I deserve it!” Blake screamed back.

“ _NO, YOU DON’T!_ What good would come out of it if you had any of those things done to you, huh?! Do you think I would be _happy?!_ Do you think Ruby would be happy?! Weiss?! Sun?! Your parents?! No one blames you for what you did, no one is angry at you for what happened to me, not even my dad! I lost this arm to protect you, Blake, and I would _gladly_ lose my other arm, my legs and everything else to do it again, just so you’ll be safe! So stop thinking it’s your fault that I lost a part of me and stop blaming yourself for everything that happens, because it doesn’t help me _WHATSOEVER!_ ”

Yang’s eyes weren’t even red. Blake didn’t know how to respond, but Yang wasn’t done. She took a deep breath. “The reason I’m mad at you is because you ran when I needed you the most.”

Blake looked down at the floor, feeling utter guilt throughout her stomach. “Sun was injured, too. When I was in Menagerie. When he was hurt…” Blake looked up to Yang. “The first thing I thought of… Was _you_.”

Yang’s eyes slightly widened when Blake said that. _Me? You… Thought of me? That’s…_ Yang couldn’t choke the words out, she didn’t even know what to say. Blake could tell by her face she was having trouble responding, so she changed the subject. “Any idea when Jaune, Nora and Ren are coming back?”

“They’re out on an assignment but they should be back tomorrow. Have we got a story to tell them.” Yang chuckled. She sighed, before walking past Blake. “Blake, I’m sorry but… I still can’t forgive you for running away.”

“I know. I don’t expect you to.” Blake responded sadly. Yang opened the door to the hospital, preparing to visit her sister. She held the door open for some time, before speaking.

“If you’re looking for a place to stay, down the street and to the left, big motel, can’t miss it. They’re not exactly allowing us into the school yet since we needed the full team here, but once Ruby and Weiss are okay, we’ll be on our way. Just let the motel know you’re staying with me.” Yang smiled. “You’re taking the couch, by the way.” She called out, before closing the door. Blake looked up to the sky, sighing. _Yang… I hope one day that… We’ll be okay…_

* * *

 

Yang walked down the hallway towards Ruby’s room, expecting to find her lying in her bed, sleeping or just being blank. The conversation with Blake earlier was still bouncing around in her mind. That was someone she _loved._ No, someone she _loves._

 _Loves? Loved? I don’t even know anymore. None of this makes sense, none of these feelings are familiar. I just want things to be normal again… But I can’t just forgive Blake. She hurt me._ Yang closed her eyes, sighing and opening the door to Ruby’s room. “I’m back, sis. You okay- Huh?”

Yang’s heart immediately stopped as she saw Ruby wasn’t in her bed. The sheets had been flipped to suggest she left. “Dammit… Ruby!” Yang called out as she exited the room, looking down both sides of the hallway. “Ruby?! Where are you?”

Yang ran left, bursting into Weiss’ room. “Ruby, are you-“

She froze. Her lips locked. Her heart stopped. Her breathing stopped. She found Ruby. But she found her in a position that almost made Yang cry.

Ruby, despite her aches, got up out of her bed and walked to Weiss’ room. She sat down in the chair next to her bed, rested her head on Weiss’ chest, locked her hand with Weiss’, her other hand softly resting under that ice white hair. And she had fallen asleep in that position. The heart monitor was the only sound in the room, the rhythmic beeps sounding over and over again at a medium pace.

Ruby really did love Weiss. And she never wanted to lose her. It’d be like losing her mother and Pyrrha all over again…

Yang slowly backed out of the room, informing one of the passing nurses what had happened. They promised that when Ruby awoke, she would be moved back to her room until she was fully ready to move again without feeling pain. With that all said and done, Yang knew she needed one thing: Some rest. She hadn’t gotten a single second of sleep since last night when Ruby and Weiss were injured. Yang walked out of the hospital, making a reminder to visit her sister at 7 PM that night.

_I can’t believe everything happened so fast… But I know they’ll be fine. We’re not done until the bad guys are taken down! And we can finally do it as a team. Everything will be okay in the end…_

_At least we’ve got a few days of rest! I think we deserve it._

“There she is! That’s the girl who was part of the team that saved us!”

Yang looked to the right to see a group of people, citizens of Mistral, standing and pointing at Yang. She soon was being applauded by them as she received words of praise for doing what she did. “You’re a hero!” She mostly heard as a crowd formed around her. She wasn’t smiling, however. She didn’t feel like a hero at all. She felt utter guilt that she couldn’t keep Ruby or Weiss safe.

But no one needed to hear about that.

“Thank you.” She finally responded, silencing the crowd. “But… Please, just be sure to send your help and your best wishes to the two girls in hospital, Ruby and Weiss. They didn’t come out unscathed but they’ll push through.”

Finally, Yang looked up to the motel window, and saw Blake in her room, sitting by the window reading a book. “And if you guys see a girl with black hair, cat ears and has the name Blake Belladonna… Be sure to thank her, too. She was the one that killed the giant Grimm.”

With that, Yang pushed through to her motel, the sounds of cheering and applauses erupting within the streets. She saved many lives and an entire city.

Yet, she still didn’t feel like a hero.

* * *

 

The pink and black haired small girl stood atop a tall building, looking down on the ground where Yang Xiao Long was currently being surrounded by a crowd, applauding her. The girl spun an umbrella in her hands, an evil smile on her face. _Finally found you._ She thought.

 _Half a year, and I finally know where your entire team is. And Ruby Rose in hospital? Perfect_. She spun the umbrella on one finger. _I don’t want to kill you all in the state you’re in, that’d just be unfair and unsatisfying. No, I want you to fight for your lives and fail. I want you to suffer just as I have for taking him away from me. They’re going to pay, Roman. I swear._

_Mark my words, Team RWBY. **Neopolitan will have her revenge.**_


	3. Blood Is Red

“I may be a gambling man… But I know there’s some bets ya just _don’t take_.”

Neo smiled to her partner, Roman, as he made his last words to Ruby. They had been battling atop one of the Atlas airships, and Ruby was at a massive disadvantage with both Neo and Roman facing her. Grimm surrounded the ship, roaring and flocking about, but none took Neo’s concern. She unsheathed the blade at the top of her umbrella, and in an act of intimidation, scraped it along the ground as she walked towards the girl hanging off the edge of the airship, creating a horrifying sound for Ruby as multiple sparks flew off the blade.

Neo pointed the blade down at Ruby, ready to stab on Roman’s command. “Like it or not, the people who hired me are going to change the world. You can’t stop ‘em, _I_ can’t stop ‘em. You know the old saying…”

_Surely after he says this, I can off her? I’ve been waiting long enough to kill her!_ Neo moved the blade closer to Ruby. “If you can’t beat ‘em…”

But in a single moment, Ruby leaned up, pressing the pink button on Neo’s umbrella and _opening it!_ Neo gasped, before being flown off the airship and into the horde of Grimm. She gritted her teeth in frustration as she started floating towards the ground.

_Damn that bitch! I was just about to kill her right there, and now Roman gets to do it?! No fair!_ Neo huffed. Luckily, she still had her scroll to contact Roman once she landed. Surely by then, he would’ve finished Ruby off by then. One Grimm flew directly towards Neo, and opened its mouth, attempting to eat her. Neo simply kicked the Grimm, knocking its head to the side, before smashing her foot straight into one of the wings, crippling it as it started floating towards the ground.

Eventually, Neo landed atop a building, her arms exhausted from holding them up for so long. She looked up at the airship, and whipped out her scroll, shooting a text to Roman.

_NEO: Now that was a cheap move! Please tell me you made her suffer a bit longer for that one?!_

Neo looked up to the airship yet again, just in time to see the red girl jump off the airship, escaping. She fired her weapon into the ground, keeping herself afloat with the recoil. Neo made another text to Roman.

_NEO: And off she goes again. You really suck at killing her, huh? Next time, just let me do it. No monologue, just kill her!_  
NEO: I guess I’ll forgive you… Only if you let me have the rest of that ice-cream back at home. Deal?  
NEO: Just come pick me up, I landed on top of one of the dust stores you robbed ages ago.  
NEO: In case you’re wondering which one, it’s the one where you first met little Red.  
NEO: And you tucked your tail and ran because I wasn’t there.  
NEO: And you didn’t even kill her.   
NEO: Remember that one?

Neo could never resist getting a jab at her partner, but she did love him. Quite a lot, in fact. He was the only person she ever really cared about. She looked up to the airship to see it was… Still going in the same direction. Neo quickly texted Roman again.

_NEO: You do know how to steer, right? Really not that hard._

Neo was soon interrupted by a Beowulf climbing on top of the building and roaring at her. She merely tilted her head at the beast as it charged and slashed at her. In a split second, she unsheathed the blade in her umbrella and swiped up, decapitating the beast. She put the blade back in her umbrella, and looked up to see the airship was still travelling in the same direction… But was slowly cruising down.

_NEO: Roman? Roman, answer me._  
NEO: If the controls are broken or something, please answer me. We can make a plan.   
NEO: Is your scroll broken? Just make some sort of signal, anything!  
NEO: Roman, please, for the love of God, ANSWER ME!

Neo’s heart raced, getting faster and faster. The airship was descending at rapid speeds now, and Neo started sprinting towards it. She didn’t even care about the Grimm spotting her as she made her way from rooftop to rooftop, trying to get to the ship to see what the hell was happening and maybe even saved Roman.

_NEO: Roman, I’m really scared, PLEASE ANSWER!_  
NEO: ROMAN, PLEASE!  
NEO: Are you injured? Did that bitch hurt you?!  
NEO: PLEASE, JUST SAY SOMETHING, I CAN’T LOSE YOU!

Neo eventually reached the end of the rooftops and was now overlooking a large, grass field, obviously used for sport. However, she got there just in time to see the airship mere meters away from the ground. Even though she couldn’t speak, Neo tried calling Roman, seeing if he would answer. But alas, nothing happened. And as much as she tried to, she couldn’t look away.

The airship crashed headfirst into the ground, shattering the front into a million pieces. It cartwheeled into the air, now standing straight, the tail sticking in the air. It slowly crashed onto its top, a loud clanging and creaking echoing through the land. As soon as it hit the ground, it burst into flames, exploding. The radiating heat swarmed Neo, but she didn’t feel it.

All she felt was utter dread. A hand crushing her happiness or hope, and draining it.

_NEO: ROMAN, THE AIRSHIP CRASHED, PLEASE ANSWER!  
NEO: ROMAN!_

But Neo knew there was no hope. Nothing. She fell to her knees, the scroll slipping out of her hand. Her jaw was unhinged, shaking as her eyes filled with tears. There was no two ways about it, there was only one thing that was possible.

Roman was dead.

Neo’s head dropped, and she let out a single sob as tears streamed down her cheeks. She dropped to her arms, her perfect form dropping. She didn’t even care if a Creep snuck up behind her and killed her now, she had nothing left. What was the point of even living if the only person she ever lived was gone?

Then she remembered. Ruby had escaped, that _red bitch_ had escaped. With quick deduction, Neo figured it all out. Her teeth grit as the tears continued streaking.

Ruby had killed Roman. Murdered her Roman. Neo felt utter _rage_ overcome her, the desire for blood increased. More specifically, she wanted Ruby Rose’s blood. She wanted to hold her decapitated head by its hair, she wanted to watch her entire life fade from her eyes, and she wanted to watch the red blood ooze from the stab wound in her throat. More than anything now, Neo wanted to _kill_ her. She wanted revenge.

Slowly, Neo choked back the lump in her throat, and picked up her scroll, sending one last text to the dead Roman. Maybe he’d get it.

_NEO: Don’t worry, Roman… I’ll avenge you…_  
NEO: I’ll kill her… I’ll kill Ruby…  
NEO: No, you’d want more… You’d want me to kill all of team RWBY, wouldn’t you? I can do that…  
NEO: I’ll make every single one of them suffer… 

_NEO: I’ll do it because I love you, Roman._

* * *

 

Yang opened the door to her apartment, and was instantly hit with a very familiar and disgusting smell. She immediately spotted the first tin on the kitchen table, a small one. Tuna.

_Only one person I know would eat this stuff._ Yang smirked as she followed the tuna trail to the kitchen to, of course, find Blake, sitting in front of the kitchen table, a large pile of the tins in front of her. Yang crossed her arms, snickering. “Of course you would eat all of it.”

“Not my fault you had a full pack in the fridge.” Blake replied. “Why’d you even have this stuff? I thought you hated it.”

“I’m just used to doing it, I guess. You always went through the boxes I got… And then you kept the box afterwards.” Yang teased.

“Those boxes are comfortable!” Blake replied as Yang walked to the bedroom. Blake looked down to the floor, her mind immediately flooding with a plan. _I think it’s time I actually tried to say something… Even if it will do nothing to help, it’s worth a shot._ She opened the door, but before she could enter, Blake called out to her yet again. “Yang… I know it isn’t going to change anything, but I’m sorry for running.”

Yang didn’t reply for some time, taking in the words. _I’ve never been one to hold a grudge for so long, nearly a year is a bit much, but… Running away when I needed you the most and thinking you were protecting me? I can’t just let that go…_

“You’re right. It won’t change anything saying that. I need to know you won’t abandon me ever again. That you won’t _hurt me_ ever again.” Yang replied, Blake feeling the familiar sense of her stomach catching on fire, before being cooled over with ice. _Was I too harsh? Hell, I’ve been harsh for a while now. No way am I changing that now._

As the bedroom door closed, Blake held her knees to her chest, looking down at the floor. _Why did I ever think it was a good idea to run?_ She looked out the window to the afternoon sky, sighing. _I’m sorry, Yang… I could say that a million times, but it still wouldn’t change a goddamn thing. What can I do? How can we ever be the same again?_

Yang was in nothing but an orange tank top and a pair of shorts as she lay down in the bed, her mechanical hand resting between the back of her head and the pillow. Her eyelids felt as if two ton anchors had been attached to them, and she felt rest overcome her easily. Her alarm had been for seven to check up on Ruby. Her dreams were darkness, nothingness. She couldn’t remember the last time she dreamt, all she ever had were nightmares. Flashbacks to that night where she lost a part of herself.

It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since Blake came back. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since Weiss fell into a coma, yet, it has felt like _weeks._ How would Ruby react if Weiss woke up? Would she confess her feelings? Or just stay friends with her? _Why am I thinking the things Ruby should be thinking is probably the more important question here. I guess I’m just so worried for her…_

Before Yang even knew it, the blaring alarm was going off. It didn’t even feel like a minute since she rested, but she slammed down on the top of it nonetheless. She hated that alarm so much. Her alarm at Beacon played an actual song, _I Burn_ , but that had probably been perished in the fall of that academy. Now she just had this pathetic, cheap alarm. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, resting them on the soft, carpet floor. The cotton wool clung and hugged her feet as they made contact.

Once Yang had wiped the sleep away from her eyes, she looked out the window to see how dark it was…

Only to see a person was in her bedroom, standing right over her. And it sure as hell _wasn’t_ Blake.

“What the hell?!” Yang cried as she back rolled off the bed, dodging an incoming blade swinging from above. The blade looked thin, like a long, sharp needle. Yang immediately swung a blow at the figure as the blade sunk into the bed, but the figure immediately broke into glass and disappeared. _That move… That looked so familiar…_

“Yang? Are you alright?!” Blake asked as she burst into the bedroom, only to see Yang panting out of panic. She turned to face Blake.

“Someone was in here, they tried to kill me. I don’t know who… Hang on, is that a note?” Yang asked as she spotted a small slip of paper within the pile of glass. The paper was coated one side in a colorful pink, and the other half in a dark black. The text was a poem, and read the chilling words:

_Blood is red,_  
Bruises are blue,  
Savor your last days,  
Because I’m coming to kill you. 

“Who… Who wrote that?” Blake asked, but Yang immediately knew. Only one person had that color scheme, that blade, that ability…

“Neo. That girl who didn’t speak at all and had the pink and black hair.” Yang reminded Blake, who instantly went wide eyed.

“Her? Why is she coming back now?” Blake asked in panic. Yang immediately looked up, her breath cutting as her thoughts cut to one person.

“ _Ruby!_ ”

* * *

 

Yang ran into the hospital, going up to Ruby’s room. She burst through the door to see she wasn’t there, and immediately checked Weiss’ room. Thankfully, she was in the exact same position. Yang breathed a massive sigh of relief, and Blake ran up behind Yang to confirm the sight.

“She’s alright… Thank god, she’s alright… Blake, I think I’ll stay with her for the night. Just in case.” Yang said, to which Blake nodded.

“Guess I’ll be on watch for Weiss.” She replied as she sat next to Weiss’ bed. Yang picked up Ruby, holding her like she used to when she was four, and Ruby remained asleep. Yang was tempted to say goodnight to Blake, in some act of kindness after all the yelling they had gone through. But she ultimately went against it.

Yang laid Ruby in her own bed, sitting next to her. She crossed her arms, watching over her little sister, making sure she had to be safe for the night. However, the anchors were still attached to her eyes. And she soon passed out, the exhaustion of running a full town getting to her. At the exact time she fell asleep, Ruby awoke, looking around the dark hospital room. The soft breathing she heard to her left was Yang, and Ruby smiled at the sight of her.

However, there was another soft breathing in the room. To Ruby’s right. “Blake? Is that you?” Ruby asked as she turned to the right.

But it was most certainly _not_ Blake. It was instead a single girl, pink and black hair, not speaking at all. And it took Ruby a couple seconds to decipher her, before her eyes shrunk and panic overtook her body. She immediately tried to scream, but the girl firmly grasped a hand against Ruby’s mouth, before getting up close to the girl.

A mere inch from Ruby’s face was Neo. Her blade in her right hand, which Ruby spotted, was sending a chilling freeze down her spine. Neo soon mouthed the haunting words.

“ _You… Took him… From me…_ ” She bared a full teeth smile, before raising the blade in the air, lining it up with Ruby’s chest, straight where her heart was.

And then, she plunged.

The sharp blade pierced through Ruby’s body, stabbing straight through her heart and sticking out her back and below the bed. Her eyes darted around everywhere as she gagged and coughed, some blood coming out. All the while, Neo kept a full grin. “ _I… Got… You…_ ” She mouthed yet again, before slowly inching the blade out from Ruby’s body. Her last feelings were of utter pain as the blade sliced and opened the hole in her heart, before her silver eyes went empty.

And then, Ruby Rose was dead.

Neo walked around the bed to the sleeping Yang, and in that moment, she awoke to see her sister’s cold eyes staring right at her, her head tilted to the right. Blood seeped from her chest, and before Yang could even scream or figure out what was going on. She felt a blade rest against the side of her neck. She looked up to see Neo, a full teeth smile, lining up her swing.

“Please… No…” Yang begged in shudders, but Neo had no mercy. She swung the blade back, before slicing it, cutting through Yang’s neck like a knife against hot butter, decapitating her. Yang’s head hit the hospital floor, her jaw still twitching and her eyes going empty as the rest of her body jolted in the chair. Neo smiled in glee at her results, before exiting the room and going on to Blake and Weiss…

* * *

 

“ _AAAGH!”_

Yang sprung awake, gripping the sides of her chair, panting for breath. She shot her eyes to Ruby to thankfully see she was still alive. She let out multiple sighs of relief to realize it was all just a nightmare. She took Ruby to her hospital bed, fell asleep, and had a nightmare. No one died…

That was sure as hell enough to keep Yang awake for the next twelve hours.


	4. See You There

“Looks like we swapped places, huh, kid?”

Ruby and Yang awoke to the gravely and gritty voice of her very own uncle, Qrow, walking into the hospital room. He had still been recovering from the poisoning but he was finally in a suitable condition to walk and the first thing he did was check on Ruby and Yang. “You’re the one stuck in a bed all beat up and I’m standing here, mocking you.”

“I shouldn’t be in here for long, thankfully.” Ruby responded. Qrow pulled out his familiar flask, unscrewing the cap and downing what the sisters assumed to be pure gasoline. He took the bottle away from his lips, letting the liquid wash away the dry desert of his throat, before speaking.

“Heard everyone around here calling you two heroes. Personally, I like my heroes to not be on the brink of death after a fight, but you did your best. Maybe you’ll learn not to go on suicidal tasks without uncle Qrow’s supervision.” Qrow teased as he walked over to the window, opening the blinds to look at the cool air of a Tuesday morning.

“I’ll have you know we took down a Grimm that I don’t think anyone’s ever heard of before! It was huge-“

“You encountered a Giant, it seems. Taken down two of those myself. They’re annoying, but easily surprised.” Qrow cut Ruby off, much to the dismay of the younger girl.

“Well I think we did good, at least…” She huffed, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks.

“Your Weiss friend would say otherwise. How is she, anyway? I hope she’ll be alright soon. I do _not_ want to tell Winter the news.” Qrow asked.

“I… I think she’ll be okay. Her heartbeat seemed alright last night, so hopefully she’ll wake up soon!” Ruby kept a positive attitude up, much to the surprise of Yang. _You certainly changed from that depressive mood yesterday… I’m glad, sis._

“You’ve been awfully quiet, Yang. Got something on your mind?” Qrow asked, but as soon as Yang opened her mouth to reply, he cut her off, holding out his arm. “No, wait, let me guess… It’s that emo friend of yours, isn’t it? I heard you two had some dramas going on.”

“That’s putting it lightly… She abandoned me!” Yang slightly snapped. She closed her eyes and sighed, running a hand over her face. “I just wish she trusted me more. That she’d be more open and honest with me and not reserved all the time. We’re supposed to be a team, but she doesn’t treat us like one. Maybe we’re just pawns in her game of ‘Catch the White Fang’.”

_I don’t even know if I meant any of those words. I felt like I did, I want to think I did… But something inside me just says ‘Stop. You’re being too harsh. Stop it.’_

“Something tells that you consider this girl to be… _More_ than a friend.” Qrow said, causing Yang’s eyes to snap wide open.

“H-huh?!” Yang stuttered out as Ruby gasped.

“Yang, do you have a crush on Blake?” She asked as Yang’s cheek flustered up. She tried to get out the words but she couldn’t, the shock of everything blocked them. She sighed, looking down at the floor.

“Maybe I liked her when we were still in Beacon… Maybe I liked her when I lost my arm for her…” Yang looked up and glared into Qrow’s eyes. “But I don’t like her now. And I know that for a fact. She ran. And I can never forgive her.”

_Those words… Those words felt meaningful. Maybe I’ve been denying it until now, but I know for a fact. I don’t like Blake anymore, not after everything she did. And she will not earn my forgiveness._

“I can’t blame you, either.”

That wasn’t Qrow’s voice. Yang looked to her left to see Blake was by the doorway and she had heard the whole thing. “I did something stupid and wrong and I shouldn’t earn anything from you, Yang.”

“Blake…” Yang choked out, but there was honestly nothing to say to her. Everything had already been heard and the words haunted the pair. They were like annoying ghosts in the room, constantly repeating themselves. _I can never forgive her_ repeated over and over in Blake and Yang’s mind, never ending.

“But I can promise you one thing, Yang. I’ll make everything up to you in whatever way I can. Not necessarily to earn your forgiveness… But just so you can know I’m not completely against. And that maybe you can trust me.” Blake said, obvious determination showing in her voice.

“If you want me to trust you, you’ll have to trust me first!” Yang immediately snapped back, forcing an aura of silence in the room. _What the hell was that?! I just… snapped. I think it was the fact she said the word ‘trust’… Why should I trust someone who will abandon me at the sign of any evil?_

“You weren’t kidding. You two have _serious_ dramas.” Qrow shattered the silence. “What you two need is a room together and a lot of whiskey. It worked for me and bunch of other girls before, trust me.” He snickered, causing Yang to shake her head in embarrassment. _Hold on, I’m forgetting something here… Wait, I need to tell Qrow about her!_

“There’s another thing, too, Qrow… Yesterday, I was taking a nap in my room, and… A girl came in. Tried to stab me. I knew who it was, too. Her name is Neo, she was one of Roman’s henchmen.” Yang explained. Ruby gasped, and all eyes went to her.

“What is it?” Yang asked.

“I fought her… During the fall of Beacon. Flung her off the ship, but I assumed she survived.” Ruby told the group. _That explains a lot… Combine that with the fact Roman died, I think she might be back for revenge._

“Only advice I can give you girls is to stay in the city walls and close to each other. I’ll do my best to protect you, but in the state I’m in, I don’t think I’m gonna be swinging that sword around any time soon.” Qrow advised, to which they all nodded. _What are we gonna do when everyone’s better? She’s not going to stop until we’re all dead…_

The room was silent and dark, with the girls being filled with angst and Qrow with worry. Neo had nearly killed Yang in the past, and her own mother had to save her, but Raven already said that was a one-time thing. Yang couldn’t depend on someone to save her life this time. In the middle of her thought, Ruby suddenly spoke.

“Guys! I think I can see Jaune and the rest!” Ruby called out as she looked out the window. Yang looked out to see Jaune, Nora and Ren all entering the walls of Mistral. Yang smiled at the sight of them. _Glad to see they’re safe_.

“I’ll go bring them up here so you can talk to them, Ruby.” Yang said, running out of the room and down the stairs. Blake was left awkwardly standing in a room with Qrow and Ruby.

“I’m not kidding, by the way. A room together and alcohol can get a lot out. A drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts, as they all say.” Qrow said to Blake, who didn’t have a response back, simply looking away from him. He chuckled, walking out of the room. “I’m gonna go rest up like I’m supposed to. Try to sort things out with my niece as soon as you can, because it’d _seriously_ benefit all of us.”

 _Sort things out with Yang? I can try, but…_ Blake looked out the window to see Yang running towards Jaune and his team.

_How can I get her to even consider me a friend anymore?_

* * *

 

“I’m so glad to see you guys are okay!” Yang yelled as she ran over to the team. “How’d everything go? I assume that Grimm infestation is wiped out?”

“I say we did a pretty good job. Nora _really_ seemed to enjoy herself with the pack.” Jaune explained as all eyes went to the girl, who still seemed in her hyperactive mood.

“So… Much… Blood… Can we do it again?!” Nora chanted, gleefully looking towards to Ren.

“Nora, I don’t think any Grimm are going to be infesting that spot anymore, especially after seeing you.” He explained calmly, causing Nora to huff in disappointment. She crossed her arms.

“Phooey.”

“How did you guys go?” Jaune asked. Yang looked up to the hospital building, scratching the back of her head, awkwardly grinning and slightly chuckling.

“It was, uh… _Interesting._ ” Yang said, causing many eyebrows to be raised. “To put it bluntly, Blake came back, Ruby can barely move, and Weiss is in a coma.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Jaune gaped. “What the hell happened?!”

“Some sort of Giant Grimm, we’ve never seen anything like it before. Messed us all up pretty badly, but we should pull through just fine.” Yang comforted. _I hope._

“I say we go visit them. I think they’ll need some of our support.” Ren proposed, and the team agreed, following Yang to the hospital room where Ruby was. All of it hit the three person team pretty hard as they entered the hospital room to find not only Blake sitting by a bed, but Ruby laying in that bed, not looking in the best condition.

“Hey, guys!” Ruby greeted the team as they entered. The team couldn’t respond, just simple silence being their only emotion as they took everything in. “Um… Weiss is next door if you want to see her, too. But she isn’t awake, yet.”

“Ruby, I…” Jaune stuttered. He was trying to find the words, but couldn’t. There were none coming to him, it was nothing.

“All I can say is, I hope for a quick recovery.” Ren finally said, to which Nora repeated. Ruby looked towards Jaune who was still trying to find something to say, and she simply smiled.

“I know this is a lot to take in, Jaune. But don’t worry. I know you’re hoping for the best for Weiss and I, and I appreciate it. I don’t want everything to be all damp and depressing, so just treat me like normal, okay? I appreciate your support, but I don’t want you struggling to say something.” Ruby said softly, giving the team some inner peace. “Didn’t you guys plan on celebrating if the task went well?”

“Ooh, right! Jaune, you were gonna take us to that nice place not far from where we live, and you were gonna pay for all the food, remember?! We’ll go there tonight!” Nora planned, not really waiting for the other two men’s consent.

“You three should probably go get a wash or something. You still got that horrible stench on you. Plus, you must be exhausted.” Yang suggested. Nora tilted her head up, yelling.

“ _FINALLY,_ someone gave me permission to have a shower!” She suddenly screamed, before taking Ren’s hand and dragging him out of the room, giving orders for him to make a batch of pancakes with the special syrup he always cooks up whilst she was in the shower. Jaune smiled towards the team, walking out of the room.

“I hope you’ll be okay, Ruby. Let us know when Weiss wakes up.” Jaune called out as he followed the rest of his team. As soon as he left, Blake turned to Yang, crossing her arms.

“Why didn’t you tell them about Neo?” She asked, to which Yang sighed.

“They looked shocked enough about everything that happened to us. I don’t think they need to hear about a psycho murderer plotting to kill us all along with it. We’ll tell them at a later date. They deserve some rest, first of all.” Yang responded. She raised her arms above her head, stretching and yawning. “In the meantime, I’m gonna use the hospital showers myself. You should probably use one too, Blake. God knows we all stink of sweat and BO right now.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that for a while.” Blake teased, to which Yang ignored her. She stepped into Ruby’s bathroom, leaning on the sink and looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was an absolute mess, feeling like straws and grit all throughout it. She only just realized she had been wearing her pajamas since last night, and had them on ever since Neo attacked her. _Meaning I just walked into public with these on… I hope nobody took any pictures._

However, in her silent thoughts, Yang felt another presence behind her. As if someone was watching her. She held her breath, and looked into the mirror to see a girl standing behind her. Holding an umbrella, grinning.

Neo.

Yang suddenly shot an elbow back, but yet again, shattered Neo into pieces of glass. “Yang? Are you okay?!” Ruby called out from in the room. Yang saw a note drop from within the glass figure, and picked it up. Reading the horrifying message to her.

 _Hello, bimbo._  
Yes, that was me trying to kill you last night. You’re lucky you escaped, but next time, I’m not going so easy.  
You’ve escaped my blade two times now. The other time being on that train. This time, I’m going to kill you.   
You will come out to the forest at the eastern end of the wall. You’ll see markings leading you to me.  
Once you’ve reached the end, we’ll fight. You’ll die. I’ll win.  
I know your immediate thought is to run or tell someone, but listen here, blondie.   
If you tell anyone about this, if I see any guests with you, if you don’t come to the designated spot by 12 PM and if you step one order out of line…

**_ EVERYONE DIES. _ **

_See you there! <3  
-Neo_~

Yang was utterly _horrified_. She was scared; she was well and truly _scared._ She either followed Neo’s order and faces certain death, or tells everyone and tries to get them to fight against her. But with Ruby and Weiss in the state they’re in, and Qrow unable to fight, the chances were slim to none.

Either way, Yang couldn’t see a way that she was going to see the end of day.

“Yang?! Did you break the mirror or something?!” Ruby called out, slightly scaring Yang.

“I-I’m fine! Don’t worry…” Yang looked at the note. She had two hours to get to the designated spot. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She felt like vomiting, but nothing came out. She was shaking, she was sweating, she was panicking, but she was trying to control her breaths. She can’t let Ruby see she was scared. If Ruby heard about the note…

_Oh, God… I can’t let Ruby die…_

That nightmare flashed before her eyes again, the sharp needle plunging its way through Ruby’s heart, killing her. Yang swore to protect Ruby, she _had_ to, but if she dies, she can’t do anything.

She had no way of escape. She had to follow Neo’s orders and hope everyone else makes it out alive.

She opened the bathroom door and stepped into Ruby’s hospital room. “I-I’m going to get some groceries… You want anything?” Yang asked.

“Do you really need to ask? Cookies, of course!” Ruby gleefully cheered, and it was that sentence that nearly brought the flooding tears to Yang’s eyes. She held them back, and nodded.

“O-Okay, I’ll go… Get those…” Yang walked towards the door, her shaking hands clenching the door handle. Her breath felt cold and dead. She took her last opportunity to say one last thing to her sister. “Ruby… You know I love you, r-right?”

“What are you saying? Of course I do! I love you too, sis!” Ruby smiled. Yang sniffled, but tried to hide it from Ruby.

“G-Good… I’ll see you in a bit…” Yang choked out, quickly walking out the door. She covered her eyes with her arms, letting out a few sobs, before choking them back up and pushing forward. She needed her weapon and her outfit.

She was preparing for quite possibly the last fight of her life.

* * *

 

“You got this, Yang… You totally got this…”

Yang was outfitted in her fighting clothes and was now retrieving her Ember Celica’s, all the while, she was talking to herself, trying to get herself ready after the small breakdown she had earlier. “You’ve had, what, three months training now? You’ll be totally fine!”

_Then again, she’s had training too, probably… No, think happy thoughts, Yang! Happy thoughts…_

On her bedside table were her familiar and beautiful weapons. She grabbed the one for her left arm and attached it, before doing the same with her right. She gazed a bit at her bionic arm, the machinery and metal of it. _At least my arm is pretty strong. Any hits I can land should be pretty damn hard._

Yang walked out of the Motel and towards the eastern wall, as instructed. It wasn’t a long walk; thankfully, Neo didn’t feel like exhausting Yang before the fight. The first thing Yang noticed was that the wall had no guards, which was unusual for the rest of the city. _Neo probably dealt with them, but they’d find out soon… Explains why she wanted me there so soon._

There were multiple lines in the dirt of the forest outside the city leading Yang to a certain location. She took a deep breath, and ascended forward. The day was cold, possibly about to rain soon. Yang, herself, never really got cold though. Her hot blood kept her warm at all times, much to her pleasure. Freezing was never her biggest problem.

The lines kept leading Yang on a path in the middle of the forest, and she had no idea if Neo was going to ambush her at any moment. Yang kept her guard up in case that idea came to fruition. Soon enough, Yang saw some carvings into the tree. A message to her.

_After I’m done with you, it’s on to the girl in black…_

_Blake…_ Yang kept pushing forward to find another message.

_Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Just don’t go too easy on me. I hate easy fights._

Neo was taunting her, the rotten bitch. Neo obviously knew about Yang’s short temper, and was trying to trigger it. Thankfully for Yang, her father had trained her in that area and it took her a lot more to push her to the boiling point. Anger never helps in a fight. It only screws you up. Yang saw another message.

_To be honest, I thought my biggest challenge would be the red headed girl with the spear and shield…_

_Pyrrha?_ Yang saw another message on the tree behind it.

_But now I don’t have to, because she’s dead, dead, dead!_

As soon as Yang read that message, joyful giggles echoed across the forest. _She’s laughing about Pyrrha’s death?! That cold hearted…_ Yang kept pushing forward, ignoring the giggling, until she came to an open area. A wide patch of grass with one big tree in the middle, a perfect arena. _If Neo was going to fight me anywhere, it’d be here._

There was a message engraved on the large tree. Yang looked closely…

**_B E H I N D  
Y O U !_ **

Yang suddenly snapped her head back to find… Nothing. Her heart was racing, and she turned to face the tree again…

Only to find Neo standing right in front of her, a full teeth grin on her face. Yang’s heart jumped and she used her gauntlets to launch herself backwards. Neo stood before her, in the same outfit as when she fought her on the train. She spun her umbrella on one finger, smiling at Yang.

“Things will be different than last time.” Yang said. They walked in a circle, facing each other off. Neo still didn’t reply, her smile only growing wider. If it was Neo’s intention to scare the crap out of Yang, she was doing a _masterful_ job.

Yang got into her fighting stance, and Neo simply slung her umbrella over her shoulder, ready to dodge any incoming blows, as she did last time on the train. Yang cocked the shotguns on her Ember Celica’s, before shouting.

“Blake, now!”

Neo turned around, ready to block any attack, but she saw nothing. She suddenly felt a heavy fist smash into her cheek, spinning her. _She… She tricked me!_ Neo was too dazed from the blow to dodge the expert combo being performed by Yang, as she shot multiple blows into her jaw and chest, before uppercutting Neo into the air, shooting herself up, and smashing a fist into Neo’s stomach, crushing her into the ground and forming a crater where she landed.

 _Her blows are harder, that’s for sure…_ Neo felt blood on her lip and cheek as she stood up, already weak and her aura low from the blows. Yang got the jump on her; there was no way around that. Yang kept her fighting stance up, not making any cocky remarks. She needed to keep her guard up, as her father taught her.

Luckily for Neo, she _did_ have a trick up her sleeve.

Neo grabbed both ends of her umbrella, took them apart into halves, and pressed a button. The umbrellas thickened and started transforming themselves into pistols, one for each of Neo’s hands. _You’ve got to be kidding me… It’s **always** gotta be a gun?!_

Neo aimed the two pistols at Yang, giggled, and then opened fire.

Yang started flipping herself back, landing on her hands then her feet in a cycle as she dodged the incoming fire from Neo. She shot two missiles from her gauntlets at the ice cream girl, and she quickly put her umbrella back together, unfolding it to form a shield and block the fire. Yang charged forward as she blocked, and the two engaged in their first hand-to-hand.

Yang fired her shotguns at each punch, most aiming for Neo’s head, and she kept spinning her umbrella around, blocking the multiple arms coming at her. Yang swiped her leg, hooking them under Neo’s ankle and tripping her. Neo landed on her hands and spun around, turning the tables and tripping Yang over. Neo quickly got up, extending the sharp blade out of the tip of her umbrella, and swiped down at Yang’s throat. She quickly rolled out of the way.

Neo quickly went on the attack, striking at Yang with the umbrella at incredibly inhuman speeds, and Yang kept her two arms up, blocking the blows. She held out her right, mechanical arm, taking one heavy blow but not feeling a damn thing. She swung her left fist, making contact with the side of Neo’s face, and shooting her into the large tree. As she flung away, Yang grabbed her umbrella, tossing it away and leaving Neo unarmed.

Yang walked towards the dazed Neo, firing her missiles at the ice cream girl, who quickly regained her senses and dodged. Yang charged at her with everything she had, and Neo frantically dodged, moving her body and hips to dodge the incoming blows. She leaned back as one blow came, and grabbed Yang’s arm, before turning around and throwing the blonde over her shoulder and into the ground. Neo made a dash for her weapon.

However, that blow just activated Yang’s semblance. Her eyes turned red and her hair set ablaze. Once Neo picked up her weapon, she looked just in time to see the raging Yang charging towards her.

Unfortunately for Yang, she just forgot one of her most important rules.

Her semblance won’t win her every fight, and anger never helped.

But it was too late to change her plan, and she watched it all crumble as Neo summoned the blade from the tip of her umbrella, and slashed at Yang, cutting deep into the blonde girl’s stomach.

Yang immediately felt the wind rush out of her as she hit the dirt ground, rolling and crumbling. She covered her deep stomach wound with her right arm, and didn’t even dare to look down at it. She did anyway, and she saw the left side of her stomach gushing blood from a deep cut. She half expected her intestine to fall out, but the cut wasn’t _that_ deep. It wasn’t fatal, but it was crippling.

And being crippled in a fight with Neo basically meant certain death.

Yang looked up to see Neo slowly walking towards her, a smile on her face. Yang got on all fours, but immediately dropped as the sharp pain shot through her stomach and her entire body. She needed to keep that blood in her, she _cannot_ pass out.

Neo squatted down in front of Yang, smiling. She held up her umbrella, shooting the blade from the tip. It was covered in Yang’s blood, and Neo looked at it. She then stuck out her tongue and licked Yang’s blood off of the blade as if it were ice cream, her tongue coming dangerously close to the sharp edges, but no cuts were made.

She flipped the blade around and slowly licked the other side, savoring the delicious taste of Yang’s bitter, hot blood. The sight was enough to make Yang puke, but she couldn’t. Yang bared her teeth as she smiled, and bought the blade to Yang’s throat, poking at her esophagus, ready to cut. And as Yang’s death approached, Neo mouthed her final words to her.

_Thank you._

Yang closed her eyes, knowing there was no way out of this. She had let down Ruby, let down Qrow, let down Weiss, and let down Blake… Tears didn’t well up in her eyes, but she felt like crying.

But suddenly, Neo looked behind Yang, and slightly panicked, obvious by the fact her eyes went white. Suddenly, a figure with long, red hair and familiar armor. The figure carried a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, and swiped at Neo, who frantically blocked. The figure stood in front of Yang, defending her. Neo recognized the figure obviously, and was clearly afraid as she pulled the same getaway tactic as she did with Raven. Jump and flash away.

The woman put away her weapons and spoke in an extremely familiar voice. “Blake will be here soon to get you back to Mistral. I’m going to be back soon, but until then…”

The figure turned around, and Yang’s eyes widened at her face. She felt her breath cut at the sight of _her…_ “You never saw me here.”

The woman walked away, and of course, Yang couldn’t give chase, as badly as she wanted to. Blake emerged from the bushes, and her eyes widened at the sight of the injured blonde. “Yang!”

Blake immediately got down on one knee, carefully picked up Yang and wrapping one arm around her shoulder. “You’ll be alright, just stay with me, okay? I’m getting you back to Mistral, I promise!”

Yang nodded, but her eyes kept shifting back to where that woman was. _There’s no way… She saved my life, but…_

_S-She’s supposed to be dead…_


	5. I Missed You

“Just hang on, Yang! We’re nearly there!”

Blake carried Yang through the walls of the city, where there were patrolmen investigating the disappearance of the guards in the east wall. As soon as they spotted Yang and Blake, they immediately went over to assist. Yang’s vision was blurry and she felt her pulse throughout her entire body. She also felt cold, which was a rare occurrence. She had lost a lot of blood, so much that it had soaked through her clothes and was now dripping through the cotton.

“Look up at me, Yang. Keep your eyes up.” Blake instructed to a stumbling Yang. She looked up to see the girl with the cat ears, but could barely tell her expression through the blurriness of her vision. All she knew was that she was worried to death. Blake had instructed a guard to take off her Ember Celica’s and place them in their motel, and Yang felt the cool breeze of when the air hit the area of her arm that were initially covered by the weapons.

Suddenly, Yang’s vision went black for two seconds, and she dropped like dead weight into Blake’s arms. Blake dropped the idea of dragging her, and instead wrapped one arm under Yang’s leg, picking her up in bridal position and carrying her that way. Yang’s eyes slowly opened up, but she felt like she was going to vomit, going to pass out, and going to die at the same time. It was excruciating.

“It’s okay, Yang. We’re nearly there… They’re going to close up that wound, and then you’ll be okay…” Blake said to the blonde, who could barely hear her. Yang started groaning, before muttering one word.

“ _Pyrrha…_ ”

Yang didn’t know whether she had seen Pyrrha back there or if she was hallucinating. Pyrrha was dead, Ruby said she was dead, she was turned to ash by Cinder. How can she be alive? There was only one answer: She wasn’t. That had to have been someone else, there’s no other way around it.

Blake slammed through the hospital doors with her shoulder, calling out for anyone to come help her. It was all a blur to Yang, but she soon felt herself being placed upon a bed, presumably to be worked on. “You’ll be okay, Yang…” She heard Blake’s voice from somewhere. It was the last thing she heard, and then everything went white.

Blake stood in the waiting room outside as Yang was taken in to surgery. It wouldn’t take too long to fix up her stomach, especially since her Aura would help with the healing. Blake went up to Ruby’s room, since she’d be wondering where Yang was.

Blake opened the door to find that Ruby was actually standing up, her arms slightly above her waist to keep her balance. She quickly looked up to see Blake standing by the door. “Hey, Blake! Look, I’m-“

As Ruby said those words, she tried to walk towards Blake, but eventually failed, stumbling forward and nearly falling to the ground. Blake caught her mid-fall, helping her back to her feet. “Are you sure you’re meant to be walking right now?”

“The doctor’s haven’t permitted it yet, but I think they’ll test me out soon to see if I’m okay. I’m just getting some practice in beforehand!” Ruby said with a smile on her face as Blake helped her back onto her bed. “Do you know where Yang is? She was acting really weird this morning.”

Blake crossed her arms, shifting uncomfortably. _Here we go…_ She sighed, looking behind her so she didn’t have to see Ruby’s expression. “Ruby… Neo called your sister out to fight her. Yang couldn’t bring anyone else. They fought… Yang lost. Neo put a pretty deep cut in her stomach. Not fatal, but she’s in surgery right now.”

Blake closed her eyes as silence drowned the room, engulfing it. Blake finally opened her eyes to see Ruby was looking out the window. She was about to place a hand upon her shoulder, but Ruby suddenly spoke. “Well, if it isn’t fatal…”

Ruby turned to Blake and smiled. “I’m sure she’ll be just fine. We have nothing to worry about. Yang will be kicking butt again in no time. She’s gone through worse.”

Blake couldn’t help but return the smile Ruby had. _She’s right, Yang will be out in no time, probably less then twelve hours from now. She won’t let anything stop her as long as Neo’s around, that’s just like her._ “You’re right. Thanks, Ruby.”

“Just tell me one thing, Blake.” Ruby started. “This isn’t going to be the last time Neo attacks. She’ll come again for us, I know it. Even though Yang’s a really good fighter and all… Promise me that you’ll be by her side and backing her up. I can’t let her die.”

“I promise.” Blake immediately responded with no delay, causing Ruby’s head to _slightly_ tilt. _Oh no… Yang told me when Ruby does that head tilt, she starts getting curious…_

“You answered that fast. Is there a reason for that?” Ruby asked.

“Well, it’s like you said. We can’t let Yang die. That’s basic teammate stuff.” Blake replied. _Yang also said Ruby starts making the weirdest assumptions in this state…_

“Blake, do you care about Yang? Even though she’s treated you horribly the last couple of days?” Ruby asked. Blake sighed, keeping her gaze locked with the window so Ruby couldn’t see her eyes. Blake’s mom, Kali, always said she knew when Blake was lying, since her eyes shifted when doing so.

“She’s been treating me the way anyone would. I betrayed her, and I deserve all those harsh words. But… Yes, I do care about her as a friend.” Blake replied. Ruby leaned in closer to Blake, and she shifted her head away so Ruby couldn’t see the twitching eyes.

“As a friend… Or _something more?_ ” Ruby asked, sending a chill throughout all of Blake’s body.

“H-Huh?”

“Blake Belladonna, do you have a crush on my sister?!” Ruby suddenly yelled, jolting Blake and widening her eyes. A blush immediately appeared on her cheeks.

“W-What?! Why are you saying-“

“BLAKE, DO YOU LOVE MY SISTER, YANG XIAO LONG?!” Ruby screamed even louder, pointing an accusing finger to Blake. She couldn’t tell if Ruby was angry or uncovering something, but either way, she was acting weird and scary.

“Ruby, you can’t-“

“Do you?!” Ruby cut her off.

“Ru-“

“DO YOU?!”

“Can you-“

“ _Doooooo youuuuuuu?_ ” Ruby leaned in as close as possible towards Blake, keeping a glare locked with the Faunus’ eyes. Blake knew Ruby would immediately cut her off no matter what she said, but she tried anyway.

“I-“

“ _DO YOU?!_ ”

“Yes! Yes, I do!” Blake finally admitted, but Ruby didn’t stop.

“How much do you love her?!” She screamed.

“I-“

“Would you fight alongside her?!”

“Of course!”

“Would you _die_ for her?”

“In a heartbeat!”

“Would you do anything for her?!”

“YES!”

“Good. That’s all I need to know.” Ruby finally went quiet and laid down in her bed, smiling to herself. “Weiss owes me fifty lien when she wakes up.”

Blake raised an eyebrow at this line, and slowly spoke. “You… _Betted_ on this?”

“Naturally.” Ruby answered as if it were perfectly normal. It was only then Blake realized that Ruby had uncovered one of her deepest secrets using a basic strategy: Screaming and confusion. Blake’s introvert instincts kicked in.

“You can’t tell Yang, please! She hates me right now and it’ll just make thing so awkward between us!” Blake begged. Ruby smiled to Blake, comforting her.

“What kind of monster do you think I am? I won’t tell anyone. Well, except Weiss, because she owes me that fifty and all… But on one condition.” Ruby raised a finger, and Blake listened in. “It doesn’t have to be right now. But you tell my sister about your feelings sometime soon. I don’t know how long they’ve been bottled up, but they need to come out.”

Blake nodded. “I will. I promise.” _She’s right, I can’t keep these feelings bottled up… Hang on… Bottle?_ Blake’s eyes lit up at the sudden realization. _Ruby Rose, I think you’ve just accidentally given me the key to solve these issues._

Blake started walking out towards the door, opening it to go out into the hallway. “Where are you going?” Ruby asked. Blake froze and stopped at the door, before turning around to face the red girl.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” She sighed, looking down at the floor. Should she really do this? This had a fifty percent chance of actually working. _Well, Yang hates me enough. No harm in trying._ She smiled, and looked up at Ruby.

“But I’m following Qrow’s advice.”

* * *

 

After the sun had gone down, the streetlights came up, and Jaune, Nora and Ren walked through the night. They had made plans to go out for a celebration dinner at the nearby Mistral restaurant, and had even dressed for the occasion, with Nora wearing a pink dress and Ren and Jaune wearing near matching tuxedos.

They had yet to receive the news about what happened to Yang, but Blake planned to tell them the next day when they were ready for another batch of misery and pain for all.

“Oh, you guys are gonna love it here, I’ve heard from literally everyone that this place is freaking _amazing_. Apparently their pizza is the best in all of Remnant, so I dunno about you, but I’m _so_ having that.” Nora had not stopped talking the minute the team took off for the place. Thankfully, spending over a year with Nora builds up an immune system for when she starts doing this kind of stuff, and Jaune was actually quite good at it now.

“Nora, how about we judge it for ourselves when we try it?” Ren suggested, causing Nora to puff her cheeks in anger.

“You’re no fun.”

“You know you love me.” Ren smirked, causing Nora to glare straight into his eyes. Her short size would’ve made for a cute sight, but her deadly power made this to be the most intimidating sight Ren ever sees.

“Just because we’re a thing now does _not_ stop me from kicking your butt when it feels necessary, so _watch it_ , pretty boy.” Nora poked Ren in the chest with great force, before looking away from him her arms crossed.

“How long has she gone without sugar?” Jaune asked as he kept looking around for the place.

“Nearly a whole twenty-four hours.” Ren responded, causing Jaune to sigh.

“That explains the mood.” Jaune whispered, but Nora picked up. Within milliseconds, she was right in Jaune’s ear, screaming.

“ _YOU SHUT IT, BLONDE BOY! THIS IS TORTURE FOR ME!_ ” She screamed, causing Jaune to wince in pain at the noise. Ren didn’t bother to intervene, since he’d much rather prefer for the bones in his body to remain intact and well-functioning.

“I think this is the place up here.” Ren pointed out, immediately reverting Nora back to her normal state. She saw the restaurant, titled _Très Bien_ , and immediately gasped.

“That’s it! Come on, quickly, quickly, quickly!” Nora squealed as she grabbed Ren’s hand and dragged him to the place, with Jaune following slowly from behind. The sight of Nora and Ren like that was supposed to be a nice sight to see…

But to Jaune, all it bought back was distant memories he’d much rather forget. He’s been trying for months, but they don’t stop.

_“I’m sorry…”_

Jaune closed his eyes, growling in frustration before immediately trying to block the thought. He looked up at the sky towards the broken moon, sighing, letting his breath create a burst of smog before him, which faded and swayed away into the darkness. He closed his eyes, before opening them and moving forward. He caught up to Nora and Ren as a waiter welcomed them in and set them up at a table upstairs on the balcony, overlooking the city and the sky.

“Woooooow… This is _amazing!_ ” Nora gushed, and Ren nodded in agreement. Jaune took it all in as everyone was seated at the table, Nora and Ren sitting next to each other on one side and Jaune sitting at the other. As Nora kept blabbering to everyone else about what they would order and whatnot, Jaune kept looking up at the broken and shattered moon in the sky.

It always made him curious as to how the large moon was destroyed. They never taught it in class or even mention it, and Jaune soon realized it was because the teachers themselves didn’t even know. It seemed to be a mystery to all of Remnant.

 _But… That’s impossible! **Someone’s** gotta know, right? Someone had to have been here for its destruction, or at least still knows how it happened! I guess I’ll never know, though… _Jaune sighed, causing Nora and Ren to take notice.

“Ya still here, Jaune? Or are you on another planet?” Nora asked, snapping into Jaune’s thoughts like a sudden needle. He jolted, before immediately making a grab for the menu, scanning through as to appear normal to everyone else at the table and the restaurant. Nora and Ren looked at each other, before giving concerned stares to Jaune.

“Jaune, are you alright?” Ren asked, to which Jaune immediately nodded, his face still covered by the menu. _I started thinking about the moon to get **her** out of my mind, dammit! Don’t bring her back up!_

“Jaune, are you…” Nora stayed silent for some time, not sure if she should say her name or not. It was like an unspoken law not to mention her, but Nora needed to get to the bottom of this. “Are you thinking about Pyrrha?”

“Nora!” Ren scathed.

“I’m sorry! I just need to know so I can help you. It’s been _months_ , Jaune.” Nora spoke softly, leaning over the table and resting her chest against her elbows.

“It could be three years from now on…” Jaune whispered. He lowered the menu, breathing in sharply. “And I’d still be thinking about her. There’s nothing you can do to stop, so don’t even try it.”

“I wasn’t planning to.” Nora responded. “I just want to let you know we’re here for you. Don’t block us out.” She soothed Jaune, and he simply responded, by muttering a word of thanks and looking towards the moon again. “Now, enough of this depressing stuff! Who’s ready to eat?!” Nora immediately snapped back to her usual attitude, as was Nora fashion to do so, and Jaune couldn’t help but slightly chuckle.

“I hope you have room for one more?”

A female voice suddenly sounded behind Jaune, and Nora and Ren looked up. Their eyes immediately widened at the sight of the woman behind Jaune. The blonde man turned around to see a female figure dressed in a pair of jeans and a white singlet. They also had a long spear strapped to their back, and supported livid-green eyes and long red hair that waved over her back, reaching down to the top of her waist. She seemed slightly old, with bags under her eyes and a few wrinkles on her face, as well as a few greys in her hair, but it did nothing to counter the utter beauty of her.

“Y-you… You look similar to…” Jaune stuttered. The woman smiled, placing a hand on her hip and tilting her head to the side.

“Pyrrha Nikos? Well, I would.” The woman looked to Nora and Ren, before speaking again.

“After all, I am her mother.”

Jaune nearly fell out of his chair at that line, but kept his balance. “Y-You’re Pyrrha’s mother?! She told us about you, how you’re the best fighter she knows and all!” Jaune gushed, causing the woman to slightly giggle. “Your name is… Uh, T-Something. Sorry, it’s been so long since Pyrrha told us, I’ve kinda forgotten.”

“It’s alright, I don’t have a very memorable name. I’m Thetis Nikos, pleasure to meet all of you.” Thetis smiled at all of them. Ren bowed in response, and Nora still had her jaw hanging open. “Is it okay if I sit here?” She asked, nodding to the chair next to Jaune.

“N-Not at all!” Jaune replied, and Thetis thanked him, placing her weapon against the table. It was a long spear, shaped similar to Pyrrha’s, but she had no shield. _Maybe her defense is in something else…_ “So, uh, how have you been?” Jaune asked. He so desperately needed to avoid _that_ awkward topic.

“I’ve been looking all over Mistral for you after I heard about the Fall of Beacon. Let’s just say a little crow told me you were travelling here with Ruby Rose.” Thetis explained as she browsed through the menu, resting her elbow on the table and her chin on her fist, twirling the front of her glowing red hair before her eyes. She looked almost identical to Pyrrha, just older.

“By little crow, I assume you mean Qrow Branwen, Ruby’s uncle?” Jaune asked. Thetis smiled towards Jaune, nodding.

“So you know him. He and I go way back to our academy years. We were in different teams, but we were pretty close friends. I never really got along with my teammates, so I mostly hung around with team STRQ when I could.” Thetis explained. She then lowered down to a whisper. “And not to brag, but I was _by far_ the best fighter in my team, if I do say so myself.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Your daughter took after you in that way. I think we can all agree she was the best warrior on our team.” Ren smiled. “It’s a shame about what happened to her…”

“So we’re finally going to talk about the gigantic elephant in the room here?” Nora whispered harshly. Although she received a death stare from Ren, Thetis simply chuckled, comforting the team by a _lot._

“It is unfortunate what happened to my daughter, and believe me, I took it just as hard as any of you did. It hurt a lot, but when you choose to become a Huntress, those are the risks. Death stares deeply into your soul every day, and it doesn’t go away until it actually consumes you. Pyrrha knew this, but she took on the role anyway. As Hunters and Huntresses, we fight and die for our land, because it is our daughter.”  Thetis spoke softly, a slight croak in her voice. “It still doesn’t change the pain of when we lose one of our brothers or sisters, however.”

The team all looked away from each other, obviously saddened and upset, but what Thetis said was very true. “Thetis… I’m sorry about what happened to your daughter. I wish we could bring her back.” Jaune mourned. But all of a sudden, a huge smile burst onto Thetis’ face, and she placed her hands on the table.

“Actually, about that, I have some good news-“

“Well, hello, pretty boy.”

Thetis was interrupted by yet another female voice, this one belonging to a young woman who looked around Jaune’s age. She had short brown hair and black dress that was slightly slung to one side, showing off a bra hook and suggesting she may be drunk. “A-Are you referring to me?” Jaune asked, to which the woman simply nodded, slightly licking her lips.

“You’re quite the handsome one, aren’t you?” She slurred her words as she stroked the tips of knuckles along Jaune’s cheek, before softly grabbing his chin and raising his face up to lock her eyes with his. Jaune didn’t even know this woman’s name, but he was sure as hell uncomfortable being around her.

“Do you two know each other?” Thetis asked, ready to back up Jaune. The woman locked eyes with Thetis, and simply smirked.

“Everyone is strangers with each other at some point in their lives. Doesn’t matter if I do or don’t know him…” The woman spoke softly, before leaning in and brushing her lips along Jaune’s ear, sending tringles all down his spine. “What matters is how incredibly _sexy_ this one is.”

Jaune didn’t know what to say. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he _could_ say anything. His throat was tight and stuck, and words weren’t coming out. Thankfully, Thetis spoke for him. “I don’t think him or _anyone_ wants you here. Go find someone that’s willing to participate.”

The woman sighed, before increasing her seductive stare into Jaune’s eyes in an attempt to please him. “How about we find somewhere with a bit less chatter and annoyance? Somewhere more _private?_ ” She whispered. But finally, at that moment as the woman took his hands, Jaune forced the words out that had been stuck and grasping for ages.

“No…”

“Huh?” The woman responded to the light whisper. Jaune glared into her eyes, before shaking her hand away from his, lightly stumbling her, but mostly due to her clumsiness.

“I said _NO!_ ” He screamed, silencing everyone on the balcony. All eyes went towards him and the girl, who looked utterly heartbroken. Jaune stood up straight. “I won’t go with you. I won’t.”

The girl tried to get one last strike in. She smirked and held her hands together behind her back, pushing out her breasts further to expand her cleavage. “Why not? Don’t you like me?”

 _Well, that’s one of the reasons…_ Jaune swallowed down the lump in his throat. He was painfully aware Thetis was right beside him, but he said it anyway. “I loved… I _love_ someone else. And if I were to go with you, I’d be betraying everything they have ever done for me. I’d hurt them.”

The woman didn’t know what to say. In fact, _no one_ did. Everyone either had wide eyes or unhinged jaws. Jaune sighed, before slowly walking away and downstairs to exit the restaurant to get some breathing room. The woman looked towards Ren and Nora, and Nora immediately wrapped an arm around Ren and bought him as humanly close as possible to her.

“Touch him and you’re dead.”

* * *

 

Jaune walked out the front door of the restaurant and stared up into the cold night, the cool air breezing onto the exposed parts of his skin. He loosened his bow tie, before leaning back on the wall next to the door, running a hand through his air and closing his eyes.

 _Why did she have to be taken from me…?_ Jaune tilted his head down, sighing with deep, deep sadness. He missed Pyrrha _so damn much_ , it hurt. He didn’t know if he could keep going after he learnt about her death, and he still didn’t know if he could. The thing that keeps in moving forward is the fact Pyrrha would want him to.

Pyrrha wouldn’t want Jaune to stop, she trained him and believed in him when no one else would. Where others would give up, Pyrrha saw the potential in Jaune, and he hated the fact he never got to thank her for that. Jaune pulled out his scroll and started a familiar training video by Pyrrha, but instead, skipped all the way to the end.

“ _Jaune… I…._ ” Pyrrha said through the holographic screen. Every time Jaune watched this particular part, it felt like a needle in his heart. Pyrrha was always so close to letting her secret out, but never did. “ _I want you to know that I am happy to be a part of your life. I’ll always be here for you, Jaune.”_

Jaune quickly closed his scroll, putting it away in his pocket and shutting his eyes tightly. He breathed out, calming himself. He missed her so much. Every day, he missed her so much.

“You still have that old video?”

Jaune was startled as a woman spoke right next to him, and he looked to his right to see a woman. A light from the restaurant shined down on her gorgeous red hair, which was done up in a long ponytail behind her back. She wore a red dress that suited her perfectly, and if it wasn’t for that dress, Jaune would have immediately assumed it was Thetis. But getting a closer look at her face, she looked young. Beautiful. Familiar… Like Pyrrha…

Maybe she was Pyrrha. Or maybe it was the hallucinations coming back. When Jaune first learnt about Pyrrha’s death, he hallucinated her coming back once a day for two weeks. They had been gone for months now, but the fact her mother just met him might be bringing those hallucinations back. Jaune simply replied, “You’re not real…”

“Jaune, I know this may be daunting for you, but I swear I’m real.” The Pyrrha figure spoke, placing a hand on Jaune’s shoulder. Normally, Jaune wasn’t able to feel his hallucinations. If one were to touch him, he’d feel nothing. But when Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder… He felt it. The weight of her hand. He really felt it.

“W-Wha…” Jaune stuttered.

“Yes, Jaune. It’s really me.” Pyrrha smiled. She pushed the side of her head into his chest as she wrapped her arms around his chest. Jaune felt her embrace, he felt all of it. “I missed you so much…”

Jaune didn’t know whether to smile or break down into tears. The first instinct that came to him was returning the hug, his arms going around Pyrrha’s back. Her hair tickled parts of his arms with its silky smoothness. Now Jaune was questioning whether it was too soon to kiss her or not. But the hug, it felt like it went on for an eternity, and even then, that felt too short.

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to come back. It took a while for me and mom to find you. But trust me, I always had you in my mind.” Pyrrha choked out, keeping a smile as she separated from the hug. Jaune felt his throat tighten up again, and the words couldn’t get out, but Pyrrha simply giggled. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything. I know you missed me.”

Jaune chuckled, and the couple exchanged their smiles with one another. Eight months, eight long months, all leading up to this. Nothing else even mattered to Jaune at this moment, he finally had everything he ever wanted back. Pyrrha, the _real_ Pyrrha was standing before him. Jaune could only express his words by placing a kiss on Pyrrha’s forehead, to which she smiled and blushed at. “I love you too, Jaune.”

Pyrrha took Jaune’s hand and started to lead him back into the restaurant. “Come on, let’s go see the others. They’ll be dying to know how I came back.”

Jaune was still in a state of utter disbelief. He knew this was Pyrrha, he just kissed her and all, but it still felt unreal. Like this was just a dream. He watched as Nora and Ren collectively had a near heart attack at the sight of Pyrrha. Nora, in the span of a millisecond, jumped out of her chair and into Pyrrha’s arms, nearly causing the girl to fall onto her backside. Thetis simply laughed at the sight and Jaune couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

Ren opted for a simple hug after Pyrrha had damn near choked out at Nora’s. Pyrrha took a seat from another table and sat the end of the current one as Jaune took his original seat. “It’s amazing to see you all again. You have mom to thank for me being here right now.” Pyrrha nodded to Thetis.

“I bet you’re all curious as to how Pyrrha came back.” Thetis asked, to which Nora rapidly nodded, slamming her hands down on the table.

“More than you can _believe!_ ” Nora cried. Thetis laughed, before grabbing her drink and going on to explain.

“Well, you all have your semblances. Pyrrha’s is polarity, as you all know.” Thetis took a sip of her drink after she said that, before leaning forward on the table, resting her elbows on it. “My semblance is quite… _Unique._ It hurts me every time I use it, so I perform it sparingly. It’s how I bought Pyrrha back. This can only be used on one person at a time, too. As far as I know, I’m the only person in the history of Remnant to ever have it.”

Thetis took a breath, creating some silence for tension as everyone leaned in.

“My semblance… Is _resurrection._ ”

* * *

 

_ Seven months ago…  _

Thetis Nikos walked down the damp path of the broken Beacon Academy, which was still in ruins. She was donned in her battle gear, which looked similar to Pyrrha’s. She carried her large spear in her right hand, and also donned a brown hood over her head to hide her identity.

No one was supposed to be in Beacon at this time except for Headmasters and Atlas Military, so Thetis snuck her way in. The Grimm population was extremely high, but it wasn’t a problem for the powerful Huntress. It had been a little over a month since her daughter’s death at the hands of Cinder, and Thetis had been grieving.

But as soon as she knew the location of Pyrrha’s death, Thetis had a way to bring her back.

Beacon Tower had fallen, but amongst the rubble were Pyrrha’s ashes, spread across the wrecked tower. But as long as most of them were relatively close by, this shouldn’t be too hard. Thetis heard the growl of a Beowulf by her left, and her eyes shifted to see the beast charging towards her.

A simple swipe of her weapon and the beast was decapitated. Thetis kept moving forward, until she stepped on to the first boulder of rubble. She ascended the destruction, planning the reach the very tip. She used her spear to support herself as she kept moving up, until eventually, she stood tall, overlooking the entire courtyard of Beacon Academy.

She planted the tip of her spear into the rubble, and took off her hood, her long red hair swaying with the wind. She gazed up to the broken moon, a determined look on her face. She sighed, and rested her arms, preparing the ritual.

She clapped her hands together, emitting a loud ringing sound. She kept them joined together as she swayed her arms from right to left, before detaching her right arm and spinning it above her. This was creating a tornado, which collected all of Pyrrha’s ashes. They glowed a bright orange, and eventually, with great pain aching in her body, Thetis gritted her teeth and thrusted her hands out in front of her.

The ashes formed into a young female figure, and eventually, a glow formed from the legs. The bone was formed, and then the muscle, the nerves, the arteries, and eventually, the skin. They were all formed in a slow motion from the legs to the head, and finally, the face was formed. Pyrrha’s face.

All of this caused a great deal of pain for Thetis, but if it was to bring her daughter back, she’d do anything. Finally, the tip of the head was done, and the hair. And then, there she was. Pyrrha Nikos. She wore no clothes, as they had been turned to ashes and Thetis couldn’t bring them back, but Pyrrha didn’t give a damn.

Thetis was panting, looking down at the rubble, but she glanced a look upwards to see Pyrrha, and she couldn’t feel happier. She had succeeded in bringing her back. “Mom…?”

Thetis stood up, smiling as she walked down the rubble. It didn’t take long, and once she reached the bottom, she wasted no time throwing her arms around her daughter, and Pyrrha immediately returned the hug. “We’ll need to rebuild your armor and weapons again, but… I’m just so glad you’re back.”

“Me too…” Pyrrha whispered back. They broke away from the hug, and Pyrrha spoke in a determined voice. “As soon as I have my gear, we need to search for my team.”

“I have a friend that can help me with that. Come on.” Thetis smiled as she signaled her daughter to follow her. Pyrrha looked up to the moon, and finally spoke.

“Just hang on, Jaune… I’ll be back soon.”

* * *

 

_ Present Day _

“And that’s how it happened. Really quite simple.” Thetis finished, but Pyrrha picked up.

“I knew about this, and I needed to delay Cinder whilst I could. I’m so, so, _so_ sorry I had to hurt you all the way I did, but in the end, it stopped Cinder from controlling the dragon.” Pyrrha explained. “Plus, from what I hear, me dying activated Ruby’s silver eyes. I’m not saying what I did was the best possible choice, but in the end, we have to look at the positives.”

“You did a lot of good with your decision.” Ren smiled. “I support what you did fully.”

“Yeah, me too!” Nora cheered. Pyrrha looked to Jaune, and all he could do was smile and wrap an arm around her.

“I’m just glad you’re back now.” He said as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Her eyes suddenly snapped open after a while and she spoke.

“Oh! Something I’ve been meaning to ask. Where did you put my headgear and shield? We couldn’t find it at Beacon.” Pyrrha asked. Jaune immediately gulped at that question, and Nora and Ren shifted uncomfortably in their seats. “Well?” Pyrrha asked. Nora slightly breathed in, ready to answer for Jaune.

“He kinda took it and molded it into his armor.” Nora said in one quick burst, before immediately taking a sip from her drink as if she hadn’t said anything. Pyrrha looked up to Jaune as he nervously laughed under her stare.

“Is this true?” Pyrrha asked, and Jaune felt the weight a million trucks on him. _Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me, oh god, she’s gonna kill me…_

Jaune was thrown off as Pyrrha hugged him yet again, laughing. “Jaune! That’s so sweet!”

“Wait… You’re not mad?” Jaune asked.

“No!” Pyrrha laughed. “What, were you scared I was?”

“Utterly terrified.” Jaune choked causing Pyrrha to laugh some more. Jaune smiled at the girl. _Pyrrha… I suffered for so many months without you, and to now have you right here… It’s a dream come true. I don’t know if there is a God… But if there is, I want to thank him._

Jaune returned the hug as everyone around the table laughed the night away.

Finally, Team JNPR was reunited.

* * *

 

Blake walked down the streets of Mistral, carrying a plastic bag in her hand. The bag contained three large bottles of the area’s best whiskey, and Blake had a plan in mind for it. She was just hoping Yang was ready to participate.

Blake heard the laughs coming from a nearby restaurant, but kept going forward. _It’s good to hear the city is safe… But how long can it last?_ Blake saw the hospital up ahead. She entered through the front door, hiding the plastic bag. “Is Yang Xiao Long alright for visiting?” Blake asked the woman at the counter, who quickly started checking the computer before her.

Blake looked behind her to see a rather empty waiting room, which was a first. “She’s currently resting upstairs on level three, room forty-eight. She may still be in a bit of pain, so please be gentle with her.”

“I will.” Blake replied, before walking down the hallway and to the elevator, pressing the button for level three. The elevator awoke and started to move upwards, and Blake took a deep breath. The elevator dinged, and the door slid open as Blake walked out, scanning for Yang’s room. She quickly found it near the end of the hallway, and peeked through the window.

She expected to find Yang resting in bed, but instead, she was down and doing push-ups on just her left arm, her bionic right arm laying on the bedside table. Yang was in her bra and knickers, with the hospital gown being ditched to the side of the room. Admittedly, the sight actually turned Blake on just a bit, but she quickly pushed away those thoughts.

She entered through the door, and Yang looked up to her. “Hey, Blake. Nice to see ya.” Yang grunted as she did another push up on the one arm. Her stomach contained many stiches where Yang was cut, but obviously the blonde didn’t give a damn. “Reckon you could watch for doctors? I ain’t supposed to be out of bed yet.”

“Sure thing.” Blake responded as she placed down the plastic bag and leaned against the door. “You’re up awfully early and already at it.”

“Neo’s out there, and I can’t lose to her again.” Yang choked as she did last push-up, counting up to five hundred. She stood up, sweat covering her entire face and body. “I need to get in shape better than ever.”

Blake looked at Yang’s abs and glistening, sweating, utterly gorgeous body, and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you can get any better than that.”

“Eh, well, you know me. Sky’s the limit.” Yang smirked as she used one of the coat hanger bars as a chin up bar, and grabbed onto it with her left hand, raising herself up with incredible strength in that one arm. Blake couldn’t help but admire the utter sexiness that was Yang Xiao Long, how her bicep and abs burst with each push, and all in just her underwear, meaning the curved outside of her butt was visible to Blake to, and she very much took it in. Unfortunately, Yang caught Blake’s stare, and chuckled.

“Like what ya see?” She teased, and Blake jolted, immediately looking away and scratching the back of her head.

“U-Um, I wasn’t looking.” Blake stuttered as Yang laughed, shaking her head. Blake looked outside the window to see a doctor and a nurse heading their way down the hall. “Yang, doctor!”

“Thanks.” Yang quickly said as she let go. Blake grabbed her gown and quickly put it on the blonde, doing up the string on the back. Yang laid down in the bed as Blake took the nearest seat, and all of that happened in the span of fifteen seconds. The doctor entered the room and immediately caught a glance at Blake.

“We need to reattach the arm. Are you okay to stay here?” The doctor asked, to which Blake nodded.

“I won’t interfere.” She said. The doctor put on a friendly smile.

“That’s good.”

Blake watched as the nurse took the bionic arm and handed it to the doctor. “This shouldn’t be longer than a minute.” He said as lined up the arm and quickly worked it back against Yang’s stump of a right arm. The process seemed painless and quick, and it was only thirty seconds. “Now, this is the painful part. We’re going to reattach the nerves. Do you need to bite down on something?”

“I’ll be fine.” Yang replied. The doctor lined the arm up, and a click sounded. “ _AGGGGHHHHHH!_ ” Yang screamed, and Blake suddenly stood up. “I’m okay! I’m okay, it’s done, I’m okay…” She said to not only calm herself, but to mostly calm Blake.

“Aaaand we’re done. You can leave now or stay the night, it’s your choice.” The doctor offered. Yang glanced a look at Blake, a smirked.

“I think I’ll take my leave now. Thanks.”

“We had to cut through your shirt to get to the stomach wound, but your jacket is just fine, if you’d like to wear that.” The doctor offered, to which Yang accepted. The jacket had even been cleaned of the blood, and Yang buttoned it onto herself.

“Thank you for everything.” Yang said to the doctor as she and Blake started to walk out of the door. The doctor smiled back at the blonde.

“You should thank your Faunus friend. She’s the reason you’re here in the first place.” He said, to which Yang smiled at Blake.

“I’ll be sure to.”

The two girls exited out of the front of the hospital, the night sky and streetlights were all that greeted them. “It’s late. We should probably get back to our Motel. Qrow told me he’d watch over Ruby and Weiss for the night.” Blake explained. “He also said Winter is coming tomorrow to visit him.”

“That won’t be the friendliest meeting.” Yang chuckled as the girls walked side by side. As Yang spoke, Blake couldn’t but notice that without the shirt, Yang’s cleavage was exposed much more, and she caught a glimpse. Thankfully, Yang didn’t notice this time. _What is wrong with me tonight? I’ve been checking out Yang left and right… I guess tonight is just one of those nights? Or maybe I’m in heat… Either way, I can’t creep Yang out._

“So, what’s in that plastic bag you’ve been carrying all over the place?” Yang asked, pointing at it. Blake raised it up, and chuckled.

“You’ll see when we get back to the apartment.” Blake responded, to which Yang grew curiosity at. After some silence, with only the wind and sounds of laughter to accompany them, Yang finally said the words Blake had been dying to hear.

“Blake… I just want to thank you for saving me. I would’ve bled out and died if it weren’t for you.” Yang said, to which Blake felt an ultimate sense of satisfaction at those words.

“It was nothing. You should thank Pyrrha when you get the chance. She told me where you were.” Blake replied as the two girls walked into the apartment building.

“So that was Pyrrha! She’s been on my mind all day. Guess we should catch up tomorrow and ask how the hell she came back.” Yang exclaimed as the two walked up the stairs. “You’ve been chattier than usual tonight. Something got you excited?”

“Yep. You’ll see.” Blake smiled. Yang narrowed her eyes. _Blake, you bad kitty… What are you up to?_

As Blake entered the apartment, she shut the door and quickly locked it as Yang walked by her. She placed the plastic bags on the kitchen bag. “You allowed to drink after those stiches?”

“I should be. I see no harm.” Yang responded. Suddenly, her eyes widened as Blake’s smile grew larger. “Wait a second…”

“Yeah, I took Qrow’s advice. In this bag is three bottles of the finest whiskey I could find. So I’m going to ask a seriously stupid question.” Blake cleared her throat as she took out a bottle. “Yang Xiao Long, do you want to drink this like there’s no tomorrow?”

Yang crossed her arms. _Blake has certainly never acted like this before… I like it._ “Wanna hear an even stupider answer?” Yang asked, to which Blake nodded.

“ _Hell yeah_.”


	6. I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains highly detailed lesbian sex.

“So how did you even get this stuff? The finest whiskey in all of Mistral would be expensive, I’d assume.” Yang asked as she laid down on the couch, her head leaning back on her bionic hand. Blake popped open the first bottle as she grabbed two glasses from the kitchen counter.

“Let’s just say I live in a fortunate family. I hope they don’t see what I bought on the bill. They wouldn’t exactly approve.” Blake smirked as she filled up the two glasses with the light brown liquid. Yang knew Blake had a plan to get everything out tonight, and to be quite honest, Yang didn’t exactly mind. She wanted to see what would come out of this. Blake placed the bottle on the coffee table in front of the couch where Yang laid, and she took her own seat in another nearby couch, sitting upright and crossing one leg over the other.

The sun was down, and the only light was from the bulb burning from above. Yang grabbed her glass, inspecting the alcohol. “This looks… Kinda weird.”

“Don’t judge it ‘till you try it.” Blake responded. The two girls knocked back their drinks at the same time, and although Yang handled it just fine, savoring the sweet but somehow bitter taste, Blake immediately started coughing from the dryness of it.

“You alright?” Yang asked, to which Blake nodded, getting her last few hacks out.

“Yeah, it’s just… Well…” Blake scratched the back of her head, quickly looking out the window. “I’ve never really had alcohol before.”

“You _WHAT?!_ ” Yang sat up immediately as Blake slightly blushed. “And you got this for us?! Blake, that’s… That’s so sweet! Thank you!”

“It’s, uh… It’s nothing. Actually tastes alright.” Blake complimented as Yang poured herself another shot. _The night is going well so far… But I have a feeling it’ll erupt at some point, and I kinda want that to be sooner rather than later._ Blake sighed, before finally popping the question. “I’m… Going to assume this still doesn’t mean you’ve forgiven me, right?”

“Nope.” Yang immediately replied. She did it so casually that it almost hurt. “Blake, I really appreciate this, but a couple of drinks doesn’t change what you did.”

“Then what can I do, huh?!” Blake snapped, before immediately silencing herself. Yang raised an eyebrow in her general direction, and Blake felt herself shrink under the judgmental gaze. “S-Sorry…”

“No, it’s fine. I’m glad you snapped. Proves to me you aren’t weak.” Yang responded, downing another shot as Blake got herself another. “Blake… What you can do is promise me never to run when I need you. That you’ll start trusting me and your team. That you’ll come to us when you need us.”

“I promise.” Blake immediately said, but Yang shook her head.

“No, you need to drink on it. That’ll show me you really promise.” Yang negotiated. Blake stared at her drink, full to the brim. This was going to be the liquid that showed Yang that Blake was here to stay, and if you really thought about it, it was quite ridiculous. But Blake did it anyway. She raised the glass to her lips, and shot down the whole thing, holding back the coughs that came after. Blake gazed into Yang’s eyes.

“Good?” Blake asked, and Yang nodded.

“The next thing I need you to do is help me fight Neo. It might not happen for a while, but when it does, I need you by my side. That’ll show me even further that you’re trustworthy.” As Yang said this, rain started to pour, emitting echoing sounds across the room.

“I’ll do that. I swear I will.” Blake responded. Yang poured herself another drink, knowing this one will be the one to get her a bit tipsy. Or maybe she already was, because she had the craziest thought at that moment.

Too late, she already blurted it out. “Well, then how can I be sure you won’t be killed during the fight?”

“You… You can’t. But I’ll fight alongside you nonetheless.” Blake responded. Yang had the stupidest request in mind, but she was blurting out every thought, and nothing was stopping her. She stood up and went to her bedroom.

“No, I need you to show me. I need to know how good of a fighter you are.” Yang said as she grabbed her Ember Celica’s. Blake’s eyes widened as Yang said that, and she ran to the bedroom, shaking her head.

“Yang, I am _not_ fighting you. You just got your stomach stitches, I’ll hurt you.” Blake refused the offer. Yang froze as she was putting her weapons on, her eyes slowly turning to stare into Blake’s. Blake felt sober, but Yang… Blake deciphered that Yang may not be. _After two shots? Never knew you were a lightweight, Yang._

Yang stood up, and walked close to Blake, and before she knew it, Blake’s face and lips were mere millimeters away from Yang’s. She swallowed under the intimidating sight of Yang, who was taller and stronger than her, by far. “Good.” Yang whispered. “I want you to hurt me. That’ll show me you’re strong enough.”

Yang backed away, grabbing her other gauntlets. “Now go get your weapon. We’re fighting out in the rain, so I hope that isn’t too much of a disadvantage for you.” The blonde called out as Blake went to get her Gambol Shroud. She grabbed the cleaver sheath, looking at the sharpness of it. _Am I… going to hurt Yang with this?_

“Come on, Blake!” Yang called out. Blake noticed Yang still didn’t have a shirt, so she wasn’t in her full battle outfit, whilst Blake was. Blake sighed. _Please… Please don’t let me hurt her._

* * *

 

A long streetway. That was the arena the slightly drunk Yang chose, and she was lined up at one end of it, with Blake at the other, still slightly worried. _I can’t call off the fight, that’d be breaking the promise and Yang would never forgive me then… I need to show her I’m strong enough without seriously injuring her._

“You ready?” Yang asked as she cocked her Ember Celica’s. Blake closed her eyes, sighing as before unsheathing her blade, nodding.

“Just be careful.” Blake said, but obviously Yang didn’t hear it as she started charging towards Blake. The Faunus made a risky move, aiming her pistol at the blonde and firing. Yang blocked the shots with her bionic, before firing a shot behind her, launching herself towards Blake.

Blake blocked the charging shot, as well as the oncoming combo, swinging her blade to block the separate punches and using her semblance to create shadows, disorientating Yang. She created an Earth clone, and as soon as Yang punched it, it quaked, staggering Yang.

Blake held back her attack as she swiped from the right, to which Yang blocked with her arm. She grinned, and threw a punch into the side of Blake’s stomach, launching her across the street. Blake hit the ground, slightly rolling, before digging her blade into the ground, stopping herself. Yang shot two missiles out of her gauntlets, and Blake created a clone, blocking the shots.

Yang shot herself towards Blake again, but this time, Blake had a plan. She made a clone yet again, and as Yang hit it, Blake quickly rushed behind the blonde. She swiped her blade, using the handle to hit Yang in the stomach.

The _left side._ The side with the stitches.

“ _AGHHHHHHH!_ ” The haunting scream echoed throughout the rainy streets from Yang as she hit the concrete floor, rolling as she clutched the left side of her stomach. Blake’s breath cut and her stomach went heavy. She immediately dropped her weapon, sprinting over to the downed Yang, crying out her name.

“Yang! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry goddamn sorry!” Blake knelt down to the injured Yang, who was clutching the left side of her stomach, groaning in pain. Blake placed a hand under Yang’s back, quickly lifting up her jacket to see… The stitches were just fine. They hadn’t been opened. There was a bruise where Blake had hit, but it wasn’t all that bad. Yang could take it. Yang started to smile as her groans of pain started to cease.

“Don’t tell me…” Blake whispered as Yang started to laugh. “You _faked_ that?!”

“Not necessarily. That _was_ a pretty hard hit.” Yang chuckled. Blake helped Yang up. “That strike would hurt any _normal_ person. But it seems like both you forgot about my semblance.”

If Blake’s hands weren’t already full, she’d facepalm over her utter stupidity. _I totally forgot that Yang can take pain way better than any of us! Combine that with her aura… There was no way I could’ve actually hurt her! This was an impossible fight from the start._  

“That just goes to show me, Blake. You’d definitely fight for me, no matter the circumstances. You’ve really kept to your promise. For that, I’m really grateful.” Yang smiled. Blake felt a warmth surge through her body at those words as well as her smile. Yang was definitely tipsy, but it’s as Qrow said. _A drunken man’s word is a sober man’s thought._

“Come on. Let’s finish the rest of those drinks.” Yang said as she started to walk back to the Motel. Blake nodded, following after the blonde. _Maybe after tonight, she can finally forgive me._

* * *

 

The two entered their room again. “So, just to clear up, we totally just went outside to fight just so you could prove a point?” Yang asked, to which Blake nodded as she sat down in the chair she was originally in before, immediately taking another shot. That was the shot that got her vision slightly blurry. _Oh boy, here we go._

Yang went to lie down on the couch she was originally in, but Blake soon took notice of the fact the blonde had ditched her jacket, now only wearing her bra and pants. “It was dirty and wet, so I’ll need to wash it tomorrow. You should probably take yours off, too.”

“H-Huh?” Blake immediately responded. Yang smirked, raising her eyebrows.

“You heard me. Jacket off.” She said. Blake scoffed.

“Are you trying to…”

“No! I’m just being friendly, is all.” Yang laughed. Blake sighed, before eventually unbuttoning the jacket and tossing it away, joining Yang in the bra club. The two sat in an awkward silence as Yang took another shot, making the bottle half empty.

“This isn’t weird at all…” Blake commented.

“Oh, it really isn’t that bad.” Yang replied. Blake took yet another shot as Yang started to speak again. “Now that I know you’re comfortable in the clothes department around me, I need to hear you make another promise for me.”

Blake filled up her glass, and nodded in Yang’s direction, awaiting her words. “Shoot.”

“I lost this arm for you.” Yang started as she raised her bionic arm, showing it off to Blake. “And as you already know, I’d lose so much more to do it all over again. What I need to hear from you is that you’ll do the same. That’d you’d be willing to sacrifice that much for me in return. It’s not what I want, but I need to know you’d do it.”

“Yang…” Blake replied as she raised the glass to her lips, downing her next shot in promise. “I’d die for you, if it came to it.”

Yang smiled at the Faunus girl’s words. “Good. Then we can move on to our next promise. Our last one. You won’t need any shots for this one.” Yang said. Blake looked at the blonde, and Yang breathed in, staring out the window. She was about to ask the question, the one to decide this all. She breathed out, taking another shot, before speaking.

“Blake… I need to know… How do you feel about me?” Yang asked, and Blake’s eyes immediately closed at the question. “More specifically… Do you _love_ me?”

Blake thought back to the morning, when she was speaking to Ruby. Shortly after Blake had confessed her feelings for Yang in front of Ruby, she said “ _You tell my sister about your feelings sometime soon. I don't know how long they've been bottled up, but they need to come ou_ _t_.”

Blake made a promise to Ruby, and now she needed to fulfill it. Yang listened in closely as Blake opened her mouth. She couldn’t lie; the alcohol was preventing her from doing so.

“Yes…” Blake looked up to Yang. “I do love you. I’ve loved you ever since we became partners in Emerald Forest.”

Yang took those words in, those raw words. Months ago, she would’ve been overjoyed to hear them, but now… Now she felt nothing at them. She leaned back in her seat, downing yet another shot, rendering the bottle empty.

“Do you… Love me?” Blake asked. Yang looked out the window into the rainy darkness, placing the shot glass on the floor next to her. She was definitely drunk, and so was Blake, which meant everything being said right now was truthful and straight from the heart.

“I’ve already said this before, Blake-“

“But now I need to know the absolute truth! What you said then might’ve been a fit of anger, but now I need to know the absolute truth!” Blake cried out. Yang sighed, covering her face with her left hand. _She has so much hope, and I don’t want to break it… But what I said back then…_

“Blake… I used to love the hell out of you. But then you ran.” Yang couldn’t bear to look at Blake as she finished her sentence. “But now, I don’t. Not anymore.”

Yang still couldn’t force herself to look at Blake, but she heard the sounds of her pressing her legs to her chest and holding them close to herself. She let out a few sobs, which broke Yang’s heart to tiny, little pieces. “Do…” Blake sniffled. “Do you forgive me, at least? After all this?” She sobbed. Yang wanted to lie and say yes, but she couldn’t. Tonight was a night of truth, and Yang wasn’t about to break it.

“Blake… You can say you promise those things… But how can I know you mean them? A single drink doesn’t prove it.” Yang responded. At that moment, Blake looked up to Yang, her mouth slightly open and her eye twitching.

“How can I prove it to you, then?” Blake asked, to which Yang shrugged.

“When the time comes, if you keep the promise, I’ll believe you.” She answered. Blake stood up suddenly, jolting Yang.

“So you’re saying… After all of this… After all of these promises… You still don’t forgive me in the slightest?!” Blake screamed, shuddering and on the verge of breakdown. Yang looked at Blake apologetically, her eyes showing sympathy. Blake‘s entire expression dropped as Yang looked at her, and she dropped her head, looking down at the floor, panting.

“I hate you…” She whispered, but Yang didn’t pick up.

“Huh?” She asked, kneeling up on the couch. There was a long silence, and even the rain stopped for a bit as Blake continued her shuttered pants. She then looked up, utter rage in her eyes as she screamed as loud as she could at the girl she loved.

“I SAID I HATE YOU, YOU _BITCH!_ ” Blake snapped. Maybe it was the build-up of emotions or the alcohol in her system, but Blake was finally holding absolutely nothing back. Yang stood up, glaring at her, her fists bunched up.

“What did you call me?!” Yang screamed back. Both girls, with the alcohol in their system, were now on a rage. What they did, they would soon regret, but they did it anyway. Blake grabbed the glass bottle off the table, and threw it as hard as she could at Yang, who quickly ducked. The bottle shattered into the wall behind her, and Yang watched as it broke into thousands of pieces. She turned to Blake, who didn’t seem to regret her actions at all. Like a cat, she broke glass with not a care in the world.

And that pissed Yang off.

Yang charged into Blake, tackling her into the couch and flipping it onto its back. Years of combat training boiled down into scratches and flailing punches as the girls rolled around on the floor, switching who was on top as they fought.

Blake dug a knee into Yang’s stitches, winding the blonde, before grabbing her by the hair and standing her up. Blake threw Yang at the kitchen table, being sure to snap off some of her hair as she did so. Yang rolled over the table, breaking a bunch of glasses she did so.

Yang stood up to find Blake holding a chunk of her hair in her hand. Yang’s jaw dropped as Blake did what no person should _ever_ do to Yang. The blonde screamed, jumping over the kitchen table and tackling Blake into the glass coffee table, shattering it.

Yang quickly got two hands on Blake’s throat, and pushed down. Blake’s breath cut and she started to gag, clawing at Yang’s face as she choked the life out of her. Yang smashed Blake’s head against the floor as she strangled her, and soon enough, the Faunus was losing consciousness. Blake needed to get one last desperate attempt at staying alive in.

“Yang… Please…” She hoarsely choked out, and at those words, Yang came to her senses, suddenly loosening her grip. Blake breathed in as hard as she could, finally getting some oxygen as Yang backed away from her, looking up at her hands.

“What the hell is wrong with me?!” Yang cried. Blake rubbed her throat as she watched Yang grabbed the sides of her head. She started to sob herself, which in turn bought tears to Blake’s eyes.

“It’s my fault… I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m so sorry, Yang…” Blake sobbed as she crawled towards the blonde, who was still bunched up in the fetal position and grabbing the sides of her head. Blake slowly grabbed Yang’s wrist, looking deeply into her eyes, letting her know she is right there with her, never letting go.

Yang gritted her teeth as more tears welled in her eyes. The alcohol in her system made her emotions go crazy and she was all over the place for them, so before she knew it, she had leapt into Blake’s arms, howling and sobbing uncontrollably, and Blake soon followed, wrapping her arms around Yang’s back and holding her as close as possible.

“I’m sorry, Blake… I’m sorry for everything I did to you…” Yang sobbed.

“And I’m sorry for running…” Blake replied. “I promise I’ll do everything to protect you and I promise I’ll never leave…”

Yang wiped away the tears from her eyes, sitting up and letting go of Blake. “Blake… Thank you for everything…” She sniffled. She softly petted Blake’s cat ears, bringing some pleasure to the Faunus, before finally muttering those words that Blake had been yearning for.

“ _I forgive you._ ”

The whole world stopped as Yang said that. It was out of nowhere, but Yang felt she needed to say it because she really, truly meant it. In the moment of emotion, Blake still said she’d stick by Yang no matter what, and that truly proved to the blonde that Blake was really serious. “Y-You do?” Blake whispered.

“Yes. I really, really do.” Yang responded, her lips wobbling whilst forming a smile. Blake covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled up in her eyes again, and Yang an arm around her neck, holding her close. “Shhh…”

“Thank you… Thank you so much…” Blake sobbed, grabbing onto the girl’s soft flesh. Yang and Blake felt relief and a weight off their shoulders as they cuddled together on the floor, finally free of the pain that had haunted them for months.

* * *

 

They had spent fifteen minutes like that before Blake finally separated from Yang. In that time, Yang started to process some things in her head. All of them to do with her feelings towards Blake, and whether they had changed. “I… We’ve still got two more bottles to drink. So why waste them?” Blake said as she got up, stepping over the broken glass to the bottles.

Yang looked over her shoulder to Blake, wearing nothing but a bra and some torn black pants. Yang couldn’t deny how smoking hot Blake had been this whole night. _It’ll just be one… If she doesn’t like it, I won’t do it again. If she does… We’re in for a good night._

Yang stood up, walking over to Blake. The Faunus grabbed another bottle and turned around to see Yang approaching her. “Yang?”

Yang stayed silent as she approached Blake, until their bodies and faces were mere millimeters apart. Blake felt small under Yang’s taller height, and she was scared the angry side of Yang had taken over again. She was soon proved wrong as Yang softly grabbed Blake’s chin with her thumb and index finger.

Before she even knew it, before she even had time to react or consider the situation, Yang pushed her soft, cushiony lips against Blake’s, and they were both swept away.

The kiss lasted three seconds before Yang broke away and started judging Blake’s reaction. She had her lips slightly open, and her eyes slowly gazed up into Yang’s. In that moment, she looked so vulnerable and innocent. “Blake? Was that weird-“

Before Yang could finish, Blake had placed her hands on Yang’s shoulders and mashed her lips against the blonde’s. She stopped for a bit, before starting again. She stopped again; making sure it wasn’t weird, before they officially started. Yang wrapped a hand around the back of Blake’s neck, and an arm just above her waistline, pulling her closer, taking in her lips, tasting them. They were like cherry, so sweet and soft, almost juicy.

Yang opened her lips and closed them over Blake’s, taking dominance. It started off as a soft, meaningful kiss. Such innocence was nearly illegal in a kiss, but soon enough, it evolved beyond that. Blake raised a leg, her knee above Yang’s waist, and that’s what sparked it.

Yang lifted up Blake, before sitting her on the kitchen counter, keeping the kiss going the whole time. Yang eventually got on the kitchen counter herself, and Blake laid down for the girl, her legs spread, allowing Yang to completely go on top of Blake. Soon enough, Blake made a bold move, prodding her tongue at Yang’s lips, begging for entry.

She granted it, and soon enough, their tongues were in a battle for dominance, the arena being the insides of their mouths. Blake, with her flexibility, wrapped her toes on the waist of Yang’s pants and pulled them down to her ankles, showing off the yellow panties underneath. Yang shrugged off the pants, until she was in nothing but her underwear. Blake soon followed, keeping the kiss going as her own pants were removed.

Eventually, it was two girls, in their underwear, making out on top of the kitchen counter. Yang finally took her lips off Blake’s to trace them down her jawline, causing Blake to grit her teeth and moan in pleasure. “ _Yang..._ ”

Yang nibbled at her neck, sucking, biting, and Blake took it all in. The warmth of Yang’s teeth and tongue going at her neck was an indescribable experience, and one Blake wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon.

Eventually, Yang kneeled up, and moved both hands behind her back, unhooking her bra and letting her ladies run loose. They sprung out and Blake couldn’t take her eyes off them as Yang chucked her bra away. She grinned, and took Blake’s hand, softly dragging it up her hips and towards her breasts. She placed Blake’s hand upon the right one, and Blake started to massage it, as well as the peak right in the middle, causing Yang to moan in delight.

Blake leaned up and started sucking on the other one, and Yang never thought she could feel more satisfied than she currently was. “What do ya say we take this somewhere more _comfortable_ , my little _pussy cat?_ ” Yang suggested.

Blake smirked up at Yang, and nodded. “Sure thing… _Hot stuff._ ”

* * *

 

Yang laid down on the bed, watching Blake, who stood at the end, unhooking her bra and tossing it away, Blake’s were significantly smaller than Yang’s, but the blonde didn’t care. They were beautiful all the same. Blake, like a cat, started crawling up the bed, licking the back of her hand and rubbing it along her cat ears.

Eventually, Blake was on top of Yang, and the blonde girl pulled the Faunus down for a kiss again. This time, Yang’s hand traced down her body, along the breast, softly squeezing them, before travelling lower, along Blake’s abs…

Eventually, Yang started rubbing at the front of Blake’s panties, and this sent the Faunus into a frenzy. Yang used the other hand to squeeze Blake’s ass as the front hand hooked around the side of Blake’s panties, dragging them down and taking them off, leaving Blake fully nude, fully bare, and fully exposed.

Eventually, two of Yang’s fingers were inside Blake, and she tilted her head up, moaning. The fingers were slowly dragged in and out as Yang kept her lips locked with Blake’s. Yang’s thumb rubbed at that sweet, sensitive spot at the top, and Blake moaned, Yang swallowing it.

Blake started to lick at Yang’s neck, cleaning it like any good pussy cat would do. Yang sped up, bringing Blake more and more pleasure, and it was obvious that this was the Faunus’ first time. “Yang…” Blake moaned. “I love you, Yang…”

“I love you too, Blake. So, so much…” Yang responded, slowing down as Blake started continually moaning. Finally, Blake reached her peak as her body experienced electric shocks and spasms like so other. She shuddered, letting out a long, drawn out moan. Her head tilted back down after her finish, and Yang pulled her down for a soft, warm kiss.

“Now…” Blake whispered as she started to crawl backwards, tracing kisses down Yang’s body. “Allow me to pleasure you, Yang.”

Yang stayed still as Blake hooked her thumbs under the sides of Yang’s panties, and dragged them down. A cool air hit Yang’s spot, and Blake took in the sight of it. The sight of something she’d always daydreamed about in class.

Blake licked and kissed up Yang’s thigh, teasing her and deliberately missing the sweetness. Unfortunately for the Faunus, Yang was not one for teasing, and she grabbed the back of Blake’s head, pushing her lips against her. Blake opened her mouth around the sweet spot, and Yang closed her eyes, moaning.

Blake started licking in circles, deliberately missing the top, the most sensitive spot. She kissed and licked against Yang’s womanhood, going at a fast rate, pleasing and exciting the blonde. Yang’s thighs squeezed around Blake’s head, but she didn’t care. She was pleasing Yang’s that’s all that matters.

Blake placed rapid kisses against it, and Yang let out a small gasp or moans at each one. She licked a straight line upwards, flicking the tip of her tongue at the sensitive spot, nearly making Yang scream. Blake finally involved it in, and Yang loved it.

Yang started rocking her hips at Blake, but she kept up. She knew Yang was near release, so she started to go as fast possible, her tongue darting around everywhere, her lips sucked and kissed until saliva hung from the sides of it.

Until finally, Yang’s back arched, and she finished. She twitched and jolted as Blake stayed still, letting out a loud, long moan, until she collapsed into a pile of nothing on the bed, panting for air. Blake crawled up yet again, lying on her side next to Yang, facing the blonde.

“Hey, pussy cat.” Yang whispered, slightly chuckling. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Blake responded, burying her head into Yang’s neck as she curled up. Yang slung an arm around her waist, their black and yellow hair mixing together above them. And soon enough, in each other’s arms, they fell asleep.

Fully knowing that their love was undying.


	7. I Thank You

Not only was it the early morning sun that awoke Jaune Arc from his deep slumber, but it was also the faint sound of the shower running in the bathroom of JNPR’s motel room. Jaune blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyes as he sat up on the bed, removing the sleep from the very corners of them. He wore a simple blue shirt and red shorts in bed to make up for the coldness of the night. To his left, Nora and Ren shared a bed, with Ren lying flat on his back and Nora directly on top of him, twirling his long hair in her hands as she slept.

Jaune distinctly remembered Pyrrha took a bed with him last night whilst Thetis rented another room. However, the space next to the blonde was completely empty, with the sheets flipped over. _That must mean she woke up some time ago…_ Jaune’s mind focused on the sounds of the running shower, and his eyes suddenly widened at the realization. _That must mean Pyrrha is the one in there…_

Jaune wiped his face with his hand. _It’s barely been twelve hours since Pyrrha came back to me… And I can’t help but feel our reunion was underwhelming. I didn’t even say a single word! That was the one opportunity I had to actually do something… And I stuffed it all up! I hope Pyrrha wasn’t disappointed…_

Thetis said she’d be repurchasing Pyrrha’s weapons and headgear again today, so Jaune didn’t have to worry about doing it himself, which means he had a day with him and Pyrrha alone. Nora and Ren wouldn’t interrupt, hopefully. Still, he didn’t even know what to _do._ There wasn’t really much to do early morning in Mistral… _We could go see Ruby and all that, if she hasn’t done so already. No, she would have already… Argh, Jaune, you suck at this romance stuff!_

Soon enough, Jaune heard the shower cut and the curtains be undrawn. Before the blonde had time to react, Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom door, wearing a towel around her slender form, covering her chest down to her ankles. She caught Jaune’s stare, and simply smiled at him. “Hello, Jaune!”

“Pyrrha, get some clothes on!” Jaune awkwardly stuttered out as he turned his head away from the red haired beauty. Pyrrha slightly blushed at those words, before returning the first words that always came to mind.

“I’m sorry!” She said in her usual tone, and those two words were enough to send a blast of nostalgia and warm feelings directly to Jaune’s very core. He was so glad to have her back…

“Is this good, Jaune?” Pyrrha asked, and Jaune slowly turned his head to face her. She was in casual attire, wearing a simple red shirt and some black shorts, which is something Jaune never thought he’d see Pyrrha in. Then again, no matter what Pyrrha was in, she always looked absolutely stunning.

“You’re… Beautiful…” Jaune gasped out accidentally. Immediately, a blush came upon both of their cheeks, and Jaune quickly corrected himself. “I mean, good! You look, uh… Good!” He laughed. Pyrrha slightly giggled, before giving those familiar sweet eyes and smiled to Jaune.

“Thank you, Jaune.” She appreciated. Jaune then noticed her hair had yet to be done into its familiar ponytail, so it waved care-free behind her back, and by _God_ , she looked gorgeous. She certainly did have the beauty of a Goddess. Pyrrha took a seat next to Jaune on the bed, and Jaune did the first thing that came to mind, which was sling an arm around her shoulders, holding her close to his side.

“It’s still hard to believe you’re finally back…” Jaune whispered. Pyrrha leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling as she took in his warmth.

“I’m just glad we’re finally back together, Jaune. I can’t imagine the amount of pain you went through when you learnt about what happened to me.” Pyrrha solemnly spoke. Something Jaune didn’t know was how utterly guilty Pyrrha had felt the whole time they were separated. She knew about her mom’s semblance, but Jaune didn’t. Jaune thought he’d lost the person he cared most about for good. Pyrrha took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Jaune…”

“Sorry for what?” Jaune responded. Pyrrha looked down at her feet, before parting herself away from Jaune. She got up on her knees, facing the blonde, before finally going off on the emotions she had been building up for a while. _I’ve been bottling these up for a while… Telling my mom wouldn’t have been enough. Jaune deserves to hear these words from me…_

“For all the pain I caused you!” Pyrrha cried. Jaune’s eyes widened at the sudden outburst. “I won’t even begin to imagine how much suffering you went through… How much suffering _I_ put you through. I know you’ve been through grief these last couple of months, Jaune. And I know it’s all _my_ fault.”

As Pyrrha said those words, Jaune noticed her eyes slowly started to go glassy as tears filled them. “Jaune… I’m so sorry…” A single sob came out at those words. “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for all the hurt I gave to you. For all the sadness you went through over my sake… I’m sorry for all the- Oh!”

Before Pyrrha could finish that sentence, Jaune had already wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close to himself. Her eyes widened at the sudden gesture, and she noticed Jaune was hugging her tighter than he normally would. “Pyrrha… I don’t _ever_ want to hear you say those words again… I don’t blame you for a single thing I did or felt in the last months… I don’t hate you in the _slightest._ What kind of monster would I be to hate someone like _you?_ You’re my partner, Pyrrha. We stick together.”

Those words coming from Jaune’s lips quenched all the utter shame and guilt Pyrrha had experienced the last couple of months. Her lips slightly wobbled, and a few tears ran down her cheeks as she returned the hug, burying her face into his shoulder. “Thank you, Jaune…”

Their hearts were connected in a way like no other. It was as if, from birth, they were chosen to be together, and were to never separate until the end of time. “Sorry about that… I’ve just been building it up for a while. I get emotional when I overthink things, sometimes.” Pyrrha slightly laughed, wiping the tears away from her eyes as she separated from Jaune. However, the blonde still kept his hands on her shoulders, opening his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

“Pyrrha…” He hoarsely croaked out. Pyrrha tilted her head at the man.

“Yes, Jaune?” She asked. Ever so badly, Jaune wanted to kiss Pyrrha. Wanted to taste her lips like they did back at Beacon. He wanted to shout his love for her and wanted to be with her. But he couldn’t, he simply couldn’t. Not yet, anyway. Not after the moment they just had.

“I…” Jaune stuttered out. That was accidental. It was as if his thought of ‘ _I love you_ ’ tried to escape his lips, but were quickly cut. He was one third of his way into finally saying the words, but he couldn’t. He took a deep breath. _I mean, it’s not like she doesn’t already know. Still… I just want to kiss her._ Jaune quickly changed his thoughts, saying something entirely different. “Have you… Gone in to see Ruby yet?”

 _That’s weird. He struggled a lot to say just that?_ Pyrrha decided to answer the question instead of asking more. “Well, yes, I have. Talked to Ruby and Blake yesterday. Let’s just say I had a little… _Run in_ with Yang, too.”

Jaune nodded, smiling as he looked up at Pyrrha. In a bedroom with Nora and Ren too far away, Jaune didn’t exactly feel the most comfortable talking to Pyrrha here, not nearly as much _kissing_ her. “Pyrrha… You reckon we could take a walk to some place nearby here? I saw it yesterday and… I think you’d like it. And maybe when you get your weapons, we can… Train there? Pick up where we left off?” Jaune asked.

Pyrrha smiled at the blonde, and nodded. “I think that would be lovely, Jaune. Let me just fix up my hair a bit first. It’s… Kind of a mess.” Pyrrha slightly giggled, before getting off the bed and walking back to the bathroom. Jaune breathed out, looking towards the window with a smile on his face. _Pyrrha’s gonna love this place… I know it._

He slung his legs over the side of the bed, and walked over to his closet, grabbing his shirt and jeans, which would seem familiar to Pyrrha. _Maybe when we get there, we can finally… Dammit, Jaune. You’re focusing too much on a simple kiss, like it’s the most important thing ever. I should just be happy she’s alive… I feel so selfish._

However, as soon as Jaune started looking for his Pumpkin Pete hoodie, he found it to be _missing._ He raised an eyebrow as he started shuffling through his clothes department. _There’s no way I could’ve lost it, I put it right there!_

“Pyrrha, do you know where my Pumpkin Pete hoodie is?” Jaune asked. Pyrrha soon leaned out of the bathroom, holding the familiar jacket in her hands. Jaune’s entire body dropped as Pyrrha slightly grinned.

“You mean this?” Pyrrha asked, to which Jaune nodded. “I think I’ll be keeping it for a while, if you don’t mind. It’s really fuzzy and warm…”

“Pyrrha? Please?” Jaune pleaded. Pyrrha tapped a finger to her chin, looking up at the ceiling, humming for about ten seconds. She then simply smirked towards Jaune.

“Nope.” She said, before leaning back into the bathroom.

“Oh, come on!” Jaune cried, to which Pyrrha laughed at.

“Sorry! But I really like it!” She called out from the bathroom. Jaune chuckled, scratching the back of his blonde hair.

_Even after all this time, Pyrrha, you haven’t changed one bit._

* * *

 

The sunlight burst through the window and shined upon Yang and Blake, who were in each other’s arms and completely naked, a sheet covering them. Blake awoke to the light first, and Yang not too long after. Soon enough, their eyes met, Yang’s purple eyes met Blake’s darker ones, and the blonde raised a hand, slightly stroking Blake’s cheek. “Heya.” Yang croaked to a smiling Blake, who rolled on top of the blonde girl, their breasts now pushed up against one another, their bare skin making full contact.

“So how do you feel after last night?” Blake asked, to which Yang giggled, running a hand through Blake’s long, black hair.

“Utterly satisfied, but also utterly tired.” She croaked out, before pulling Blake down for a quick kiss. “So are we a thing now or what?”

“I think Bumblebee is officially a couple now, yes.” Blake smiled as she touched noses with Yang. The blonde’s hand travelled up Blake’s hair towards her cat ears, and she started petting, Blake closing her eyes and leaning towards the hand.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad with our fight last night.” Yang said with a worried tone. Blake rubbed at her throat, but shook her head.

“I’m okay. The only thing that hurts is my head from this hangover.” Blake tightly closed her eyes as the painful throbs came in. Yang laughed, herself being used to hangovers and building immunity to them, it was quite cute to see her girlfriend in the state she hadn’t even heard of for a long while.

“Drink some water and grab a shower. That’s what everyone else says, but I’m no expert on hangovers myself.” Yang said. Blake kissed Yang one last time, before rolling off the blonde and walking towards the bathroom. Yang rolled over to catch a glimpse of Blake’s beautiful, curvy butt, and simply whistled in pleasure.

“I like that _Bellabooty_.” She grinned, and Blake blushed, quickly closing the door to the bathroom so that Yang couldn’t embarrass her further. She put her hands behind her head and stared out the window to her right.

 _Obviously, our relationship isn’t **perfect** yet. I don’t know if I can fully depend on her to not run away again if a situation like Adam happens again. Nor do I expect her to involve me in her White Fang plans. _Yang heard the shower start to run, and she’d have liked to join Blake in the warmness, but she knew people with hangovers were in no mood for social interaction. She simply got up and put some underwear on herself and a lousy yellow shirt.

 _But for now, I’d say our relationship is good. We’re girlfriends now, that’s all I ever wanted back in Beacon, and I guess I should be happy. I know she is._ Yang went over to the kitchen to male breakfast. She looked towards the bathroom where the shower was running, a worried expression upon her face.

_All I need to hope for now… Is that Neo won’t put an end to this all with a swing of her blade._

* * *

 

Jaune and Pyrrha exited through the North Walls of the city and into the forest, both wearing rather casual attire since they didn’t expect many enemies to be roaming. Still, Jaune had his sword and shield in case of any trouble. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and the sun beaming and heating the world.

A dirt path led through the forest, and Pyrrha was quite curious as to where Jaune was taking her. Apparently, Jaune and his team had found it whilst they were out on a Grimm hunt. Pyrrha was tempted to ask, but she knew Jaune wouldn’t answer, so she remained silent, letting the sounds of nature be the only thing that came to their ears.

All in all, it was an odd mix of beautiful sounds and an awkward silence. _Gotta break this, gotta break this, this is weird, this is weird…_ Jaune looked towards Pyrrha, and spoke.

“So… Where have you been these last months? Were you and Thetis looking for us the whole time?” Jaune broke the silence. Pyrrha was very much appreciative of the gesture, and she chuckled.

“Not exactly. The first thing mom did was train me some more to prevent what happened to me from ever happening again. She can’t bring back the same person twice, so if I were to die again…” Pyrrha went silent for some time, before smiling and trying to lighten the tone. “Well, she just wants to prevent any harm from coming our way.”

“She seems amazing. You’re lucky to have a mom like that.” Jaune smiled back to the red haired girl. He soon knew that they were approaching their location quickly, and he prepared to see the look on Pyrrha’s face when she saw what was up ahead. In the meantime, Jaune kept the conversation going with another question. “So, where was your father in all of this?”

Pyrrha’s eyes immediately widened at the word, and she slowly looked down at the dirt floor. “My… father?”

“Is… Is it touchy?” Jaune asked, to which Pyrrha stayed silent at. “H-Hey, the place is right here! Look!” He placed a hand on her shoulder. Pyrrha looked up, and she felt her jaw drop.

Before them was a large grass field, the long green sticking out of it was swaying with the wind. The field led to a steep hill, where at the bottom was a wooden shed and a small paddock, obviously indicating a part of a farm that used to be here. There was a tree near the slope of the hill, and Jaune led Pyrrha to there. The view from that location was _beautiful_ , the sunlight beaming down on them but not burning anything due to the shade of the tree. The city of Mistral was in the distance, just on the horizon. The sun was still rising in the distance, separating the night from day.

“Jaune… This is _stunning!_ Thank you for taking me all the way out here! This field is perfect for training! As soon as mom gets my weapons ready, we’ll jump right back to it!” Pyrrha smiled. Jaune scratched the back of his head, chuckling.

“I-It’s nothing. I’ve been following your training videos whilst you were gone, so… I hope I’m better than before!” He said. Pyrrha giggled, sitting down and leaning against the tree overlooking the hill, Jaune resting his back against the tree and sliding down next to her.

“When I first saw this place… This is exactly what I wanted. To sit here next to you. I thought it was impossible, but now…” Jaune slowly slid his hand over, placing it upon Pyrrha’s. She returned the gesture, squeezing it back in return and leaning her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad to have you back, Pyrrha. More than you can believe.”

“I know I’ve said this before… But I missed you, Jaune. Thank you for waiting for me.” She replied. As she said those words, the sound of an airship echoed throughout the forest in the distance, and the duo turned around to see an Atlas Airship making its way to Mistral, right over the top of them. Pyrrha wrapped her other arm over Jaune’s chest in a quick response of protection, but the ship was harmless.

Little to their knowledge, that ship contained a _very_ pissed off Winter who was in the mood for a good scolding of a dusty crow.

“Pyrrha… Your arm…” Jaune pointed out, and Pyrrha looked to see what she was doing. She quickly took her arm away from Jaune, looking away as if she wasn’t doing anything at all. Jaune looked to the red haired warrior, and the urge to kiss her arose yet again. He slowly started reaching out a hand to place on her cheek, but she soon interrupted the process.

“You were asking earlier about my father, yes?” Pyrrha said. Jaune quickly hid his hand, and nodded.

“Y-Yeah. You don’t have to share-“

“No. It’s okay. I think you deserve to know.” Pyrrha sighed. She looked towards the sunrise, the city in the distance, the ongoing Atlas Airship. “My mother was the best person I had in my childhood. She taught me everything I knew. My father… My father wanted me to be perfect. I had to be the best at everything; I had to win all the tournaments… I was his way to getting him the glory and fame. He would do anything to make me his trophy daughter.” Pyrrha closed her eyes as the memories flooded back and she unraveled her story.

“Sometimes… he’d even go to extreme measures.”

* * *

 

_Seven years ago…_

The twelve year old Pyrrha Nikos’ feet skid against the ground as she blocked the strike from the front with her shield. Before her was her trainer, Hector, who carried two swords, one for each hand. The swords also tilted down to form into full auto SMG’s, and as he knocked Pyrrha back, he flung his sword down and started firing upon the girl.

Pyrrha was due to attend a combat school next year, Sanctum Academy, before moving to Beacon if she were to graduate. Ever since she was seven, she had been training with her parents and her trainer. Her mother, Thetis, taught her attack and how to use her weapon, whilst Hector fought her and improved her defense and maneuverability. Her father, Peleus, was there to make Pyrrha understand that she was going to be the best Huntress out there.

She _had_ to be the best.

Thetis and Peleus watched as Pyrrha used her shield to block the bullets. The Nikos family kept a small arena outside their house in Mistral, and that’s where Pyrrha trained. Although Thetis was supportive, she praised her ups, and gave fair criticism to her shortcomings. She didn’t treat her like a spoilt kid, but she wasn’t horrible. Pyrrha called her the ‘Perfect Mother’, and really, she was. Peleus sought to point out every single little wrong thing Pyrrha did, and even make up something she did wrong. He believed that this way, Pyrrha was always striving towards a goal, but in Pyrrha’s mind, this just made her feel like the worst.

For this short sparring session, Pyrrha was doing quite well. It was a mere few months until she was shipped off to Sanctum, so she was doing the best she ever could, and it was showing. Thetis smiled as Pyrrha expertly pushed forward as she blocked the shots, before using her polarity to grab a few bullets out of the air and shoot them right back. As Hector went to block this, Pyrrha went on the attack, swiping at Hector three times, before swinging up and launching him into the air. She jumped up, and threw her shield, shooting him back down into the ground.

“Done!” Thetis called out once she noticed Hector’s Aura was low, and Pyrrha hit the ground, grabbing her shield and smiling to herself. “Good job, Pyrrha! Like I said, in the air, your opponents have a disadvantage when they’re not expecting it. Hit them with everything you’ve got up there. You did excellent, sweetie.”

“Thanks, mom.” Pyrrha smiled. Hector got up, cracking his neck and loosening his body.

“That did a number on me, kid. Nice.” He grunted out in his deep, gruff voice. “Pel, I think she’s good for the night. I’m not sure how long I can go on, myself.”

“Am I in an entirely different dimension to you two?” Peleus shouted, scaring Thetis and Hector. Pyrrha’s eyebrows narrowed as her worried expression came into full effect. “You were to lucky to even keep your weapon in your hand. The grip you had on it was _pathetic!_ In a real fight, you’d lose it instantly and be killed!”

“But, dad, my semblance-“

“Silence!” Peleus suddenly screamed, jolting Pyrrha. “Hector, you will give her another round, and I want it perfect this time. And Pyrrha, how many times do I have to remind you? _Don’t_ get friendly with your opponent. In a tournament, all your opponents want you on the ground, bleeding. They _aren’t_ friendly. So you shouldn’t be either. You should be a force to be reckoned with, and something they all fear.”

“Peleus, you’re being too harsh. Pyrrha is exhausted and Hector can’t go on much longer, you know how Pyrrha gets when Hector is weak. She holds back because she doesn’t want to kill him.” Thetis argued, but a single glare from Peleus was enough to silence the woman. Peleus was strong, Thetis knew his power and what he would do if he got angry.

“Go again.” Peleus commanded. Hector sighed, giving a sorry expression to Pyrrha, to which she returned. _No… No, I won’t let him control me. This is my life. He’s not my master._

Pyrrha dropped her weapons, standing her ground. “No.” he said in a wavering voice. Peleus froze, looking back at Pyrrha.

“What did you say?” He spoke in a low voice, trying to scare Pyrrha, but failing.

“I said I’m done for the night. I’m not fighting Hector. I don’t care what you say. His Aura is low and I don’t want to hurt him. I’m going to do some fitness training in my room.” Pyrrha argued. She started walking towards her door, but Peleus held out a hand, stopping her.

“You aren’t going anywhere until I’m satisfied, young lady. We’ll be up all night if we have to.” Peleus said. Pyrrha looked at the hand in front of her, and growled, trying to move it out of the way.

“Get away from me!” Pyrrha screamed.

Pyrrha was cut off as Peleus raised the hand, then suddenly struck down, smacking Pyrrha across the cheek with the back of his hand. She let out a cry of pain as she hit the floor, and Thetis immediately went to stop Peleus. Hector went over to the dazed Pyrrha, who rubbed her head.

“What is wrong with you?! That’s your daughter!” Thetis screamed at Peleus. Peleus threw Thetis off him, and walked back inside.

“That’s no daughter of mine. Unless she’s perfect, she’s _nothing._ ” He said as he slammed the door to the house, locking it and his family outside. Thetis ran over to her daughter, helping her up to her feet.

“Pyrrha, are you alright?! I’m so sorry he did that!” Thetis said, but Pyrrha shook her head.

“I’ll be fine. All I can do is prove him wrong when the tournaments roll around. He wants me to be the best, so I’ll show him.” Pyrrha spoke in a determined voice. Thetis and Hector looked to each other, worried. Pyrrha sighed. “Look at me. I sound just like him.”

“Pyrrha…” Hector sighed. The young girl held back tears as she looked towards the house where her father had locked them out. She wanted to scream at him, but she only knew he’d get satisfaction out of it. She sighed.

“Let’s just… Go back to Hector’s for the night. I’ll talk to your dad tomorrow.” Thetis said, to which both Pyrrha and Hector nodded. They walked away from the arena and into the neighborhood, on their way to Hector’s house. Pyrrha looked back to her own house, a determined gaze in her eyes.

_I want to shout at you… I want to tell you I’ll be perfect… But I know saying those things will make you think you’ve done something right. You haven’t. You never will. Peleus, I’m going to become a Huntress and protect the world. If I can save people, that’s all that matters._

_I don’t care about perfection. I care about protection._

* * *

 

_Three years later…_

“Good luck out there!”

Fifteen year old Pyrrha Nikos got her last kneepad on, her armor now fully on and her mind fully ready. She was in the preparation room, where the door before her led to the arena where she would be fighting her third Mistral Region Tournament.

The crowd outside was insane, as word had gone around that Pyrrha had won the last two years of this tournament, and people were betting if she was going to win a third. She grabbed her weapons, smiling to her mom. “Thanks for coming out here to see me… Where’s dad?”

“He and I got special seats close to the arena. You might see us, but don’t keep a lookout. Focus on your opponent.” Thetis advised, to which Pyrrha nodded. She heard the announcement calling her name, and the crowd started going wild. Pyrrha sighed, giving her mother one last hug. “Go get ‘em.”

As Pyrrha started to walk towards the bright light, Thetis took the elevator back to her seat next to Peleus, who wore a full suit and tie. It didn’t go well with his bald head and bushy beard, and to be frank, Thetis had put him in the outfit, but she was happy he did nonetheless. “Aren’t you excited to see your daughter in action? She’s won the last two years, y’know?”

“Yup. I heard. Let’s just see if they were deserved or the opponent was a fluke.” Peleus grunted, to which Thetis’ expression dropped, and she sat in her seat, looking onto the arena. The crowd must’ve been tens of thousands; even people from other kingdoms came to spectate.

“I thought you’d be happy.” Thetis whispered, but Peleus didn’t respond. She decided to just ignore her husband, looking out onto the arena as her similar looking daughter walked on.

The crowd whistled and cheered as Pyrrha Nikos entered and stepped onto the circular center of the stage. Once Pyrrha’s opponent arrived, the stage would go up into the air and if any contender were to fall off, they would be disqualified. Pyrrha turned around, looking at the huge crowd before her, and she couldn’t help but feel tiny under all the stares.

“And now, her opponent. This is the boy’s first time in a Grand Final, but he has shown much promise throughout the entire tournament, even managing to beat Arslan Altan, who was last year’s runner-up. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for _Jared Annach!_ ” The announcer shouted as the door on the other end of the arena started to open up.

In previous years, Pyrrha’s opponents had been cocky, arrogant or too afraid to speak to her, and she expected much the same here. On the other end, a fifteen year old boy stepped out, with a nicely tuned face, curly brown hair, fit body and wearing a basic grey shirt and cargo pants. Obviously, he had opted to go for more speed than defense in his armor. Even though it looked casual, every hunter and huntress had some form of protection in their clothing, and Jared was no different. His was just well hidden.

He sported a simple crossbow behind his back, and if what Pyrrha studied was true, he supported multiple dust arrows for different types of shooting, ranging from fire to ice to electricity to gravity. A long bayonet also shot out the front for any close quarters combat.

Jared and Pyrrha made eye contact finally, and Pyrrha simply kept a straight face. Normally, she’d expect her opponent to make a cocky grin or just do nothing at all, but this time, Jared did something different. He _smiled._

Pyrrha remembered her father’s words.  _“In a tournament, all your opponents want you on the ground, bleeding. They aren’t friendly.”_ Pyrrha had taken those words to heart, and as the circular arena started to rise, Jared spoke.

“Hey!” He called out, and Pyrrha didn’t say anything back, choosing to ignore whatever smartass remark he might make. But there was no remark to be found. Instead, Jared put out a thumbs-up. “Good luck!”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened at the surprisingly _kind_ remarks, and she struggled to find words to return. “Th-Thank you! Good luck to you, too!”

 _He’s… Being nice to me? He’s not afraid of me or anything?_ Pyrrha already knew her father was cursing her out for being kind to an opponent, but she couldn’t care less. “And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Pyrrha Nikos versus Jared Annach! This should be a battle for the ages, folks!”

Jared retrieved his crossbow from the back, and Pyrrha shifted her weapons. Jared made a smile towards Pyrrha, and she returned it, slightly chuckling. “Three…”

Judging from his stance, Jared was preparing to fire his ranged attacks first, and Pyrrha readied her shield. “Two…”

Jared chose his first bolt to be one of electricity, and he pulled the second trigger, selecting that choice. The second trigger cycled throughout all Dust bolts, making for quick selection. The crossbow was also self-loading, so no annoying delays came between shots. “One…”

Pyrrha’s heartrate picked up increasingly, and so did Jared’s. After all, he was facing two time champion _Pyrrha Nikos._ At the end of the day however, winning or losing wasn’t the biggest concern to him. The fact he was fighting Pyrrha was enough for him to be satisfied with himself.

“ _Begin!_ ”

As expected, Jared took the first shot, and Pyrrha started charging forward, blocking the bolt with her shield. Jared cycled through to gravity, and took aim. He waited until Pyrrha was close, before firing, launching the red haired girl back. As she kept her balance, Jared summoned the blade from the tip of the crossbow, and charged forward. Pyrrha only just blocked the swipe from above with her shield, and the two were locked.

Jared released his push, and started swiping from side to side, pushing forward. Pyrrha started moving back, flipping onto her hands then her feet in a cycle as Jared kept swiping from the sides. Pyrrha used both her feet to kick Jared up in the air, and she jumped up, charging towards him. Jared quickly recovered, firing his gravity shot at Pyrrha, shooting her back towards to the ground and launching him away to the other end of the arena.

As Jared nodded, he looked up, grinning. “Nice! They weren’t exaggerating when they said you were the best of the best!”

“You’re doing pretty well, yourself!” Pyrrha returned the friendly gesture. These kind remarks, the niceness of her opponent, all of them were infuriating her father but making this to be the best fight of Pyrrha’s life.

Jared cycled to fire bolts, and shot at the ground around Pyrrha, forcing her to move away. Jared summoned his bayonet again, and the two finally engaged in their first hand-to-hand. Jared swung from the right, and Pyrrha blocked with her shield, before going on the attack herself. She launched a flurry of attacks with her spear from side to side and even from above, and Jared quickly maneuvered his crossbow’s blade to block the swings, but they were getting increasingly difficult to block.

Pyrrha eventually bought her rifle into the combo, randomly switching to it at points, and some of the shots were hitting Jared, lowering his Aura. He needed to back out of there. He swung his blade to face Pyrrha in an attempt to fire a gravity shot, but Pyrrha used her polarity to control the blade and swing it further, putting Jared off balance. She swung a hard hit with her spear, shooting Jared away and lowering his Aura dramatically.

The boy hit the ground back first, but quickly rolled back up. He looked up to see his Aura was in the yellow, meaning he had to take cautious action as to how he fought Pyrrha. The red haired girl started firing shots from her rifle, and Jared moved his crossbow’s blade around, block the shots with the iron blade.

He suddenly fired an ice shot at Pyrrha’s rifle, freezing it. He launched himself at her, before returning the flurry of strikes from his blade. Try as she might, Pyrrha did take a few hits from his vicious combo, and she held out her shield. Jared made the mistake of jumping against the shield to try and launch her back, but she fired a blast from the shield, putting him off balance and at a great distance, nearly off the arena.

Both the fighter’s got the same idea at the same time, and as Pyrrha started firing from her rifle, Jared started firing fire shots at her. The two started to run in a circle around the arena, both dodging and firing at each other, until Jared suddenly fired a fire shot in front of Pyrrha. She had to instantly stop herself, and only just managed to see Jared launch a kick from the side. She instantly used her arm to block the shot, Jared’s shin meeting the armor plating of her arm.

Jared immediately took the opportunity to fire a gravity shot and launch Pyrrha off the stage, and it succeeded, Pyrrha flew off, but she put her feet against the back of her shield and fired it, launching herself at Jared. She started spinning, and Jared raised his blade up as Pyrrha struck from above, her blade clashing loudly against his, sending a shockwave throughout the entire arena.

“My word, this is absolutely amazing! This has to be the best fight Mistral has seen in the last twenty-eight years! Astonishing efforts from both Pyrrha and Jared. Jared’s Aura is looking rather dangerous though, a mere twenty left. Pyrrha’s remains in thirty-five. As soon as any of their aura goes below sixteen and into the red, they have lost.” The announcer called out. Jared fired another gravity shot, launching himself back into the middle of the stage. Pyrrha charged at him, swiping from the side, and instantly, the two vanished.

“W-Where did they go?” Thetis cried, but the announcer answered.

“Ladies and gentleman, you are witnessing history! For the first time ever, the fight is going at such a speed that you can’t even see it! You can catch glimpses of them if you look closely.” As the announcer said that, the audience narrowed their eyes.

Sure enough, in short bursts, Pyrrha and Jared were clashing blades at a random spot on the arena, before disappearing yet again. Sometimes, they were even in the air, near the audience! The sounds of shots fired, blades clashing and battle grunts and cries were the only clues the audience had to what the heck was going on.

Finally, they came to a halt on the center of the arena, Jared’s blade connected with Pyrrha’s, both of them puffing and panting for air.

“J-Jared… This is amazing!” Pyrrha gushed. Jared slightly chuckled, trying to move his blade at the grinning Pyrrha to get an advantage. Sure enough, she suddenly spun, sticking out an elbow and smashing it into Jared’s stomach, launching him back and lowering his aura to sixteen.

She then threw her shield, and Jared couldn’t get time to react as he looked up and was suddenly hit in the stomach with the shield, lowering is aura to ten and launching him off the arena. The crowd went insane and Pyrrha couldn’t hear the announcers, but she wasn’t filled with joy and victorious feelings over a third year in a row of winning.

She was utterly worried for Jared.

“Jared!” She cried out as she jumped off the arena and ran over to the boy, still coughing from the winding. She dropped her weapons, kneeling down next to him and slowly helping him up. “Breathe slowly, okay? It’ll come back.”

Jared started chuckling, a few coughs coming in, but it seemed he wasn’t seriously injured. “I’m sorry I did that to you. I don’t know what went through my head. I should’ve just gone a bit easier.” Pyrrha apologized, an utter sense of guilt flowing through her. Jared placed a hand upon Pyrrha’s shoulder.

“What are you apologizing for? That was the best fight I’ve had in my life! It was an honor to battle against you.” He smiled. Pyrrha looked up, returning the gesture, helping him to his feet.

“And thank you for being an amazing opponent. I’m glad you were the one to make it along with me, Jared.” She smiled. Pyrrha looked up to see Thetis running towards her, but no Peleus in sight. “Where’s dad?” Pyrrha asked.

“He left. Something about being the worst fight he’s seen… Don’t worry about it, you know your father.” Thetis smiled. Jared raised an eyebrow and looked over to Pyrrha, who still had an arm over his back.

“Your old man’s a tough guy, huh?” He asked.

“That’s putting it lightly. Don’t concern yourself with him; he doesn’t like anything I do.” Pyrrha said. Jared wanted to ask more, but he knew privacy was something to be respected, so he stopped barging.

“You two! That was the best fight I’ve ever seen!” Thetis cheered. Both Pyrrha and Jared chuckled, looking at each for a short while, before looking up at the crowd. It seemed as though _everyone_ wanted to talk with them.

“Think it’s time we clear off?” Pyrrha asked, to which Jared nodded.

“You said it.”

Pyrrha kept an arm wrapped around Jared’s back as she carried him to the preparation room. Pyrrha still couldn’t get the smile off her face, not only satisfied that her father was leaving her alone, not only satisfied that her mother was happy, not only satisfied that she had thought well…

But satisfied that she had a fight against the most amazing opponent ever.

* * *

 

That night, Pyrrha rested in her dorm room alone, the sounds of small parties outside. She had been invited to a few, but understandably, she was _exhausted._ She hadn’t of seen Jared since they were separated outside the arena, and she wondered if she’d see him again. Sanctum was such a large place.

She turned in her bed, facing the wall. Her weapons and armor were leaning on the wall next to her, and she wore a loose red shirt that covered her down to her thighs. She couldn’t get the amazing fight out of her mind. The speed she went at, the blades clashing, the gravity… It was all so exciting. She wasn’t sure if she’d get a fight like that ever again.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at her door, and she sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She hoped it wasn’t any crazy fans; she’d kept the door locked for that reason. She walked over to the door, unlocking it and opening it to come face-to-face with her opponent, Jared.

“Hey.” He greeted, and a smile immediately erupted on her face.

“H-Hello again!” She said, but soon realized she hadn’t said hello the first time, making that hello again really awkward and possibly ruining any chance of friendship she’d ever have with Jared and anyone ever-

“So, how are ya doing? You must be exhausted.” Jared returned. Sometimes, Pyrrha wondered if she had anxiety issues.

“More than you can believe. That was such a great fight. Thank you again for it.” She smiled. Jared scratched the back of his head, chuckling.

“It was nothing, I was just doing my best. I’ll be out of your hair in a sec, I just want to congratulate you. You earned that win.” He said. Pyrrha’s eyes widened at the words. _He’s… Congratulating me? No one’s ever done that, they think I’m too good for them…_

“U-Um…” Pyrrha struggled to find words to say. “Congratulations to you too for making it that far, Jared.”

“Thanks.” He chuckled. He clapped his hands. “Right, I’ll be on my way. Just thought I’d pop by and say that. Sorry if I woke you.”

“It’s not a problem.” She said as Jared started to walk away, waving back at her. “Thank you for everything, Jared! I owe you one!”

“Oh, you don’t owe me anything. It’s fine.” Jared returned. He smiled back at Pyrrha. “See ya, Pyrrha.”

Pyrrha watched as Jared walked off, a deep, deep smile on her face. She wanted to run after him, but she doubted she had the energy to run a few inches. She started to think as she closed her door, flopping back first onto her bed.

_Maybe… Maybe I can meet up with him again tomorrow._

* * *

 

_Present Day…_

“Before you ask, no, he didn’t become my boyfriend. But he and I were friends for our time at Sanctum. Unfortunately, when I moved to Beacon, he chose to go to Haven, so we went our separate ways. I tried to find him at the Vytal Festival, but I had no such luck.” Pyrrha sighed as she looked up at the beaming sun. “I hope he’s okay.”

“If he can fight you and land a few hits, I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” Jaune said. “But, Pyrrha… Why did you tell me about him? You started off with just your father.”

“I guess it’s because, well…” Pyrrha squeezed Jaune’s hand some more. “Part of the reason I like you so much… Is because I see some of him in you. He didn’t treat me like I was above him or a goddess. He treated me… Like a normal human being. You two will get along when we get to Haven.”

“Pyrrha…” Jaune whispered. “Are you telling me you only like me because I remind you of an old friend?”

“N-No! I swear that’s not it!” Pyrrha panicked, but Jaune laughed.

“I’m teasing you. I look forward to meeting him.” Jaune smiled. Pyrrha and Jaune’s eyes met under the tree, and their smiles finally stopped. They just kept their gaze locked with one another. That piece inside of Jaune was still screaming at him to kiss her. _If there was ever a time to do it…_

Jaune started inching his face towards Pyrrha’s, and she knew what was coming. She started to close her eyes and cup his cheek with her hand, their lips slowly coming, about to finally meet after months of waiting. They dreamt of this moment for months, and now, it was finally going to become a reality…

“You two lovebirds!” A sudden voice jolted Jaune and Pyrrha, and they immediately separated from each other and turned around to see Thetis, panting.

“M-Mom? What is it?” Pyrrha asked, standing up. Thetis chuckled, placing a hand on her hip.

“I’ve got two pieces of good news. One, your weapon and headgear are ready to go at the weapon’s smith in the town, Pyrrha.” Thetis smiled, and Pyrrha felt anticipation start to arise. “The second piece of good news… You’re gonna love this. You know your Weiss friend?”

“Y-yeah?” Jaune asked. Thetis looked behind her, closed her eyes, and spoke.

“She’s woken up.”


	8. I Adore You

_Earlier that day…_

Ruby Rose awoke to the same, bland white roof that she had been staring at for the last couple of days. She had grown quite sick of it; it was so average and basic. The hospital walls and sounds were like hell for the girl now, and she just wanted out. Fortunately for her, she had done some walking with the doctor yesterday and went mostly fine, meaning she could be let out today.

But she was going _nowhere_ until Weiss woke up.

The room next to her had the sleeping ice queen, who had been in a comatose state ever since that mission. Ruby had only seen her once, but she planned another visit today, hopefully to see her wake up. Thankfully, Weiss’ condition was improving and her Aura was curing most of her internal wounds, so by the time she woke up, she shouldn’t need any additional surgery.

The sun beamed through the curtains of the window and straight into Ruby’s silver eyes, and she squinted, looking away from the light. The yellow of the light reminded Ruby of her half-sister, and how she would be doing right now. _Yang’s tough. I’m sure she’s out already._

Ruby looked to her left to find that Qrow was sitting in the chair next to her bed, downing his familiar flask of whiskey. His eyes locked with Ruby’s, and he took the alcohol away from his lips, smiling at his niece. “You’re finally awake.”

“Hey, uncle Qrow.” Ruby greeted her uncle. “Do Hey, uncle Qrow.” Ruby greeted her uncle. “Do you know how Weiss doing? I haven’t seen her in a while.” Ruby blurted out. Maybe it was the thoughts of her that made Ruby say that, but she did anyway.

“Her condition is improving and she’s close to finally waking up from her nap.” Qrow responded, bringing a huge sense of relief to Ruby. “On the _downside,_ her sister is coming to see her and me today, and she didn’t sound happy. I think I’m in some trouble with her.”

“Don’t tell me you two are going to fight again.” Ruby chuckled. Qrow scoffed, taking another swig from his flask.

“I don’t plan for it to come to that. So if you see any fights outside, those are all _her_ fault.” Qrow replied. He walked over to the curtain, drawing it open and looking out onto the streets of Mistral. He raised an eyebrow at the sight outside. “Well, would you look at that? Pyrrha hasn’t even been back for a full day and she’s already on a date with her boyfriend.”

Ruby raised herself up and looked outside to see Jaune and Pyrrha making their way out of the walls and into the forest. She smiled at the sight at first, Jaune finally got Pyrrha back and he wasn’t suffering through every day. Ruby had been worried for Jaune over the last months but now, he was happy. That was all Ruby wanted. However, Ruby’s smile slowly faded. _That could be me and Weiss going out there… But…_

Ruby slumped back in her bed. “Qrow, can you promise me one thing?”

“Hm?” He returned. Ruby sighed, looking up at the ceiling, her hands crossed behind her head.

“Promise me Weiss will wake up eventually. I… I need to see her again.” Ruby squeaked out. She stared pleadingly into Qrow’s eyes. “Please.”

Qrow stayed silent for some time, before stepping away from the window and pushing his hands against the bed Ruby was laying on, looking down at her. “I don’t like lying to my niece and I sure as hell don’t like making empty promises. But, if it’ll help ya smile… I promise.” He said. Ruby smiled up at her uncle.

“Thanks, uncle Qrow.” She replied.

The nice moment between uncle and niece was soon interrupted as the door slammed open, scaring the hell out of Ruby. Nora and Ren stood on the other side, Ren covering his face and Nora looking as energetic as ever. “GOOD MOOOOOOOORNING, RUBY ROOOOOOOOOOOSE!” Nora screamed. She suddenly dashed to Ruby.

“How ya doing? Are your legs okay? Can you walk? Will you ever fight again? Ugh, I can’t handle the _pain_!” Nora dashed all over Ruby, inspecting different parts of her body. She sniffled with tears in her eyes on that last sentence, before immediately changing back to a cheerful attitude. “What am I saying? Of course you’ll be alright! You’re Ruby Rose, You! Are! The! _BEEEEEEEST!_ You’ll get up, and then Weiss will wake up, and then you two WILLL DATE _FOREVEEEEEEEEEEER!_ ” Nora took a deep breath, and grinned. “And it’ll be totally adorable and I’ll write FanFiction on it.”

There was some silence after Nora had her outburst as everyone looked at Nora with utter confusion. Ruby started to slowly speak. “What was that last part-“

“What she’s trying to say is that she’s expecting you and Weiss to recover soon.” Ren smiled. Ruby smiled at Nora.

“Thanks, Nora! Thankfully, I should be out of here today and Weiss will wake up soon!” Ruby cheered. Nora clasped both her hands over her cheek.

“That… Is… _AWESOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!_ We’re gonna have the _BIGGEST PARTY IN ALL OF REMNANT_ when you get out of here! Ren will make pancakes, we’ll order pizza, I’ll have some Qrow’s flask-“

“You’re not touching anything in here.” Qrow cut Nora off. The hammer wielding girl was suddenly in Qrow’s face, screaming.

“I WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S IN THAT THING! Beer? Whiskey? _Pure gasoline?_ ” Nora questioned.

“Whatever it is, it’s none of your business. Let’s just say it gets me through a day when people like _you_ are around me.” Qrow returned.

“HEY! That’s mean! Ren, beat him up for insulting your girlfriend!” Nora pushed Ren up to Qrow, and he looked around awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact. Nora crossed her arms, tapping her foot rapidly, waiting for Ren to do _something_ to Qrow.

“You want some this, kid?” Qrow offered. Ren shook his head.

“I have my own ways of dealing with her.” Ren responded. Nora stomped her foot, puffing out her cheeks in anger.

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, YOU JERK?!” Nora screamed as Ren looked away from his girlfriend to avoid any incoming slaps that may come his way.

“Whoa. What have I missed?” A voice sounded from the door. Everyone looked over to see Yang and Blake standing by the door, and Ruby lit up at the sight of her sister standing and looking just perfectly fine.

“Yang! You’re okay!” Ruby cheered. Yang grinned.

“Yep! I was let out just last night. And, I have some even better news!” Yang grabbed Blake’s hand, raising it up and smiling as Blake slightly blushed. “Blake and I are officially a thing now! We’ve made up and we’re on good terms now.”

“Finally! I’m so happy for you two!” Ruby cheered even louder, making Blake blush even deeper. Yang leaned over and kissed Blake on the forehead, calming her down just slightly.

“That explains the noises I was hearing above me last night.” Nora said. This caused Yang and Blake’s face to go _entirely_ red and their eyes to suddenly widen.

“Wait… What?” Blake stuttered out. Nora crossed her arms, frowning at the girls.

“Don’t know if you two bothered to check, but _we’re_ in the room directly below you and _I_ HEARD EVERY SINGLE SOUND YOU MADE!” Nora screamed. Ren face palmed at Nora blurting out what was supposed to be _private information_ , and Ruby looked at Yang and Blake, utterly confused.

“Wait… What noises did you hear?” Ruby asked. Yang suddenly clasped her hands over Ruby’s ears.

“That is something you’ll learn about when you’re older, okay, sis?” Yang awkwardly said to Ruby who tried to get her sister’s hands off her. All the while, Yang glared directly at Nora, and she returned the death stare. “Anyway… How’re you doing, Ruby? Let’s move on to an _entirely different subject_ , please.”

“I’m… You’re all really weird, but _I’m_ doing fine! I should be out of here today and Weiss should be waking up soon!” Ruby smiled happily.

“That’s good to hear.” Blake returned the smile, the blush finally fading away from her face.

“We should totally have a celebration party when you two are out of here!” Yang cheered, to which Ruby and Blake agreed on. Nora’s death stare immediately returned straight into Yang’s eyes.

“That’s exactly what _I_ suggested! But noooo, no one would listen to me, of course!” Nora threw her hands in the air out of frustration. Qrow interrupted the entire situation by getting up out of his chair and walking towards the door.

“Well, sorry to interrupt your insane festivities, but I’ve got someone to meet. Not sure if any of you just noticed the Atlas Airship landing right outside.” Qrow smirked. Everyone looked out the window to indeed see the airship landing on the designated spot outside, all the citizens clearing out of the way for it.

“He’s right, I didn’t notice it…” Ruby hoarsely let out.

“Who’s come here to visit you?” Ren asked. Qrow shook his head, slightly chuckling.

“I suggest you all brace yourselves, kids. _Winter_ is coming.” Qrow said before exiting the room and going downstairs. The room was finally left in silence for some time, before Yang scoffed and broke the silence with a few simple words that _everyone_ was thinking.

“Oh boy, here we go…”

* * *

 

Qrow took another swig from his drink as he approached the Atlesian soldiers and airship, the ship powering down and the doors opening. Qrow kept a smug face as he looked at all the spectacles before him.

“Well, this is a bit _over the top_ , don’t you think?” A female voice came from besides Qrow. The man looked to his right, and actually felt genuine surprise at the woman before him. “It’s nice to see you, Qrow.”

“Been a while, Thetis.” Qrow greeted Pyrrha’s mother as she walked over to him. “Rumor has it you were killed in a mission, but I knew that was total load of crap.”

“People make up the weirdest stuff when they don’t see me every day.” Thetis replied. She chuckled. “What made you know I was fine?”

“I’ve seen the way you fight. You’re almost as good as I am.” Qrow replied. He smirked towards Thetis. “ _Almost_.”

“I don’t know, Qrow.” Thetis crossed her arms, returning the smirk. “From what I heard, you took a pretty fatal hit in your last fight. That wasn’t supposed to happen, wasn’t it?”

“Hey. That was a cheap shot.” Qrow growled. Thetis laughed, placing a hand upon Qrow’s shoulder.

“I’m messing with you. You were protecting your niece. I’d do the same Pyrrha. I respect you for that.” Thetis smiled to Qrow. Qrow always knew Thetis as one of the kindest woman he ever knew. She very rarely got even the tiniest bit angry, and was always great for any support or help. She was a respectable woman that Qrow knew for many years during their academy years. However, they slowly lost the time to catch up as the job of protecting Remnant took up their lives, so reunions like this were always welcome for Qrow.

“Am I interrupting something here?” Another, more snappy, female voice sounded from inside the airship. Qrow and Thetis looked up to see Winter exiting the ship, obviously agitated. “I didn’t realize you could move on so quickly, Branwen.”

“Move on?” Thetis asked. “Oh, don’t tell me…”

“Thetis, meet Winter Schnee.” Qrow introduced the ice queen. “My… _Ex._ ”

“Let me guess. He hasn’t said a single kind word about me, hasn’t he?” Winter snapped to Thetis. Thetis couldn’t help but chuckle at the obvious bitter jealousy this woman had, and she crossed her arms.

“I think you may be confused. Qrow and I aren’t involved romantically. We used to be good friends back in our academy days. He hasn’t really told me anything about you, actually.” Thetis explained. She placed a hand on her chest. “I’m Thetis Nikos, long time Huntress and mother to Pyrrha Nikos.”

“You’re… Pyrrha’s mother?” Winter asked, to which Thetis nodded.

“And before you say it, no. You don’t need to be sorry. To put it short, I bought Pyrrha back thanks to my semblance of resurrection. She’ll be of help as a true Huntress in future.” Thetis smiled. Winter’s eyes slightly widened, but she cleared her throat and actually _smiled_ at Thetis.

“That’s good to hear. It would be a shame to permanently lose someone like her…” Winter replied. Her smile immediately faded as she locked eyes with Qrow. “Now _you_.”

“Here we go…” Qrow sighed.

“I gave you _specific_ instructions to protect my sister when I was out on a mission. Now, she’s in a _comatose state_ and you did nothing to stop it!” Winter snapped at Qrow. “I am fully aware you had been injured beforehand, but you still needed to keep an eye on them! You should’ve known that letting them out on a mission like that could only go wrong! My sister could’ve died because of your carelessness!”

“Winter.” Qrow growled. Winter stepped towards Qrow, a glare in her eyes.

“ _What?_ ” She hissed. Qrow and Winter’s eyes locked, and Thetis was getting ready to break any fights that may occur. However, Qrow didn’t draw his weapon or make any sudden move. He instead, simply whispered.

“I know you’re worried for your sister. But you’re not the only one who’s loved one is hurt right now.” Qrow said. “My niece got seriously injured too, and I have been worried to _death_ for her. The only difference is I don’t have a tantrum about it. Do you really think Weiss would want you angry at me and doubting her in this state?”

Winter looked down at her feet, sighing and closing her eyes. “You don’t know her like I do…”

“Look, all I’m saying is to have some faith in her. Her condition is improving and she could wake up today. You just need to hang on for a little bit.” Qrow whispered. Winter finally didn’t answer, and that was enough for Qrow to know she had calmed down a bit. He wrapped one arm around Winter’s back and pulled her close to his chest. “I’m only doing this because you said it helps when you’re angry.”

“It is.” Winter responded, returning the embrace. Thetis smiled at the sight of the two, but she then heard a gasp and turned around to see Ruby hiding the bushes just a few meters away.

“Looks like you two have a fan.” Thetis commented. Qrow looked over to see Ruby in the bushes, and he sighed, letting go of Winter.

“What’re you doing here?” Qrow asked as Winter tried to hide her blush at the realization that she had been spotted _hugging_ Qrow. Ruby stepped out, still in her hospital gown, pushing her two index fingers together, giving Qrow simple puppy dog eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, I just… Wanted to see how things would go with you and Winter.” She squeaked out. Qrow kept his glare up for a total of three seconds, before chuckling, patting Ruby on the head, causing her to smile.

“I can’t stay mad at ya, kiddo.” He said.

“So… You two really used to date?” Ruby asked. Qrow looked to Winter for permission, and she sighed, reluctantly nodding as she crossed her arms.

“That’s right, all the way back. But little miss ice queen here didn’t like the fact I wasn’t calling her when I was out on missions, and the fact we couldn’t really see each other that much caused her to have a little tantrum that I couldn’t be there to calm her down for. So she called off the relationship and now, here we are.” Qrow explained.

“You could’ve at least kept in touch every so often. I get worried.” Winter snapped. Qrow sighed.

“I’m sorry, it’s kinda hard to keep in touch when I’m out trying to defend our one and only _Fall Maiden!_ ” Qrow replied, to which Winter simply looked away from the man. He sighed, looking down to Ruby. “So, as you remember, Ruby, our first reunion didn’t go very well when she tried to _kill me_. But maybe I can ease her up over the next couple of days and we can…” He looked to Winter. “ _Start over_.”

“ _That…_ ” Winter hissed, and Qrow expected the usual objection. But instead, Winter turned around and put on a _kind face_ to Qrow, which was a rare trait for her. “Is a possibility I’m willing to consider.” She said, which bought some relief to Qrow himself. It was nice to see she didn’t totally despise him just yet, and although she never said it, she could understand the distance he had. She just wasn’t very used to long distance relationships.

“But now’s the time we focus on the more important aspects. Qrow, I’d like you to escort me to my sister. I… I need to see her.” Winter asked. Qrow simply bowed, mocking her.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” He mocked, to which Winter glared, giving off the simple message. _Cut the crap or I cut your throat, Branwen._

“Qrow, do you happen to know where Pyrrha and Jaune went? I didn’t find them in the room this morning.” Thetis asked. Qrow grinned, running a hand through his hair and chuckling.

“Those two love birds went out through the North Walls. I don’t recommend interrupting them.” Qrow smirked, to which Thetis smirked, looking at the respective walls.

“I guess. I just need to give Pyrrha her weapons. Blacksmith finished working on them this morning.” Thetis explained. The weapons in question were strapped to her back alongside her real weapon. “In the meantime, can’t hurt to visit Weiss myself.”

“I need to see her, too. It’s been a while.” Ruby said. Qrow nodded, taking a swig from his flask as he started walking towards the hospital.

“Follow me, I’ll show ya where she is.” Qrow waved a hand, signaling for everyone to follow him. The hospital, thankfully, was just down the street, and the group entered in. The woman at the counter looked up at the ringing doors, and raised a hand.

“Excuse me!” The counter lady called out to Winter, whose eyes curiously locked with hers as she raised a brow. “You’re Winter Schnee? Weiss’ sister?”

“Yes… Why do you ask?” Winter replied. The counter lady smiled, looking up the stairs.

“I just received some good news from the medical team upstairs. Her monitors are saying that she’s recovering consciousness. I recommend going up to see her for this moment.” The woman called out. Ruby’s eyes widened at those words, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“She’s… She’s _waking up?!_ ” Ruby gasped. Winter’s eyes snapped to Qrow.

“Branwen!” She said.

“I’m going, I’m going.” Qrow said as he started jogging upstairs, everyone following him. Ruby’s legs didn’t ache finally, so she could keep up with everyone else, and she had to fight every part of her mind that was screaming to use her semblance to go faster.

_Weiss... You better not wake up without me by your side! I've waited too damn long for this!_

* * *

 

Ruby opened the door to Weiss’ room to find a single doctor besides her. “Glad you could all come. We’ve been checking on her and it seems her internal wounds have healed, no doubt in thanks to her Aura. I predict she’ll be awake within the next minute. Try not to overwhelm her when she does regain consciousness.” The doctor walked to the door, going down to the hallway. “If you need me, I’ll be making reports in the room next door.”

As the doctor exited, a few other people showed up. Yang, Blake, Nora and Ren had all rushed into the room. “She’ll be awake within the minute. Try not to freak her out.” Qrow explained to the newcomers.

“I should go get Jaune and Pyrrha. No doubt they’ve been waiting for this moment, as well.” Thetis said as she exited the room and ran down the hallway. Everyone else, even Winter, stood back and let Ruby go forth. Weiss’ breathing started to pick up as Ruby slowly approached and took one her hands in her own.

“Weiss. It’s me, Ruby. Can you hear me?” Ruby asked, squeezing her hand tightly. Weiss’ eyes remained closed, and Ruby slightly shook her hand. “Weiss? Can you hear me? I’m right here.”

“Of… Of course I can hear you, you dolt…” Weiss hoarsely croaked out, causing Ruby’s eyes to widen fully and her, as well as everyone’s, breath to cut. Weiss shifted, and her eyelids raised, revealing the utterly gorgeous and ice cold light-blue iris underneath. Weiss’ eyes were locked with Ruby’s silver ones, and she slowly reached her hand over to place it on Ruby’s. Weiss smiled up at the red girl, slightly giggling.

“After all… Who could mistake such an adorable voice like _that?_ ”

Ruby’s breathing started to pick up at a quicker pace, and her smile grew wider. She wanted to hug Weiss, but with everyone watching, she didn’t know if she could. So she did the other insane thing that came to her mind.

She cupped Weiss’ cheeks with her hands, and without wasting a second, leant forward and pushed her lips against Weiss’, kissing her. Weiss’ eyes widened at the sudden gesture, and Ruby’s mind was freaking out, telling her to stop. But… She couldn’t. All of these feelings were overwhelming her to the point of pure love, but her mind was calling her an idiot. What if Weiss wasn’t even gay?

Ruby quickly pulled away, awkwardly laughing. “S-Sorry… I’ve just been waiting a while to do that. I, uh, understand if you don’t want me around now, it’s just-“

Ruby was cut off as Weiss rested a palm on her cheek, and ever so slowly, a smile rested on her face. “You have _no_ idea how long I’ve wanted to do that for.”

All of Ruby’s feelings were put at rest with that simple sentence, and she felt as if the rope tightly wrapped around her stomach had been loosened. “Weiss… I missed you so much.” Ruby whispered as her overwhelming feelings got advantage of her sadness, and tears came to her eyes. The sight of a crying Ruby was enough to cause the same effect on Weiss.

“Shut up… How do you think I felt in utter darkness, waiting for the day I could see your beautiful face again?” Weiss sobbed, a smile on her face but tears in her eyes. Ruby’s happiness became too much, and she couldn’t help herself. She wrapped her arms around Weiss’ back and pulled her close, kissing her yet again. This time, Weiss returned it, closing her eyes and returning the hug. Yang started to clap at the sight of Ruby and Weiss finally finding love within each other, and with no wasted time, everyone started to cheer for Ruby and Weiss.

“You two are so _ADORABLE!_ My dreams have come true!” Nora cheered, causing Ruby and Weiss to chuckle within each other’s lips. They slowly pulled away, looking at the small crowd, Ruby keeping an arm wrapped around Weiss.

Winter soon stepped forward, and the applause was stopped as her and Weiss locked eyes. “This…” Winter croaked out. She took a breath, smiling at her sister. “This is certainly unexpected. But I’m happy for you, Weiss. As long as she can treat you right and you’re smiling with her, then I have no objections to this relationship.” Winter said, causing a sigh of relief from everyone. “I’m just… Glad you’re okay, Weiss. You made me cry for the first time in seven years, so… I’m really thankful.”

“And I’m thankful that you’re okay with this, Winter. I… Was afraid to tell you about my feelings for Ruby, especially considering our father, but… I don’t care what he thinks. As long as I’m happy, I don’t care.” Weiss responded. Winter locked eyes with Ruby, raising a brow.

“I will admit, you’re choice of interest is… _Odd._ I find myself questioning whether she’s from this world, sometimes.” Winter said. Weiss and Ruby looked to each other, slightly giggling.

“No, I don’t think she’s from Remnant. I think she’s from Heaven.” Weiss smiled, resting her head on Ruby’s shoulder. “Because she’s _my_ angel.”

That single line made Nora gasp from utter delight, her pupils forming the shape of a heart as her jaw dropped and her mouth formed a smile. “Best… OTP… Ever…”

“Guess you could say these two remind you of what we used to be, huh, Winter?” Qrow asked. Winter walked over to the man, grabbing his shirt out of what he thought would be anger.

Instead, Winter simply pulled Qrow down to her height and pushed her lips against his, catching him and everyone else off guard. She kept the kiss going for about five seconds, before snapping away. “I know you, Qrow. You haven’t said it, but I know you wanted that more than anything right now. Since I’m in a gracious mood today, I figured I’d give you at least one act of kindness.” She blushed as she walked away from him. He placed a hand on his hip, scoffing.

“What a load of crap. You just wanted a reason to kiss me, didn’t ya?” He said, making Winter blush even harder.

“You… You hold your tongue!” She stuttered out, causing Weiss to slightly giggle at the sight of Winter being _flustered._ Soon enough, Jaune and Pyrrha entered with Thetis, and they found Weiss leaning her head on Ruby’s shoulder.

“Is today the day of romance, or what?” Thetis chuckled at the sight of the WhiteRose pairing. “Now we’ve got another couple on our hands!”

“Weiss?! Now I feel even worse… I was flirting with a lesbian this whole time?!” Jaune cried, causing everyone in the room to slightly laugh.

“It’s good to see you awake, Weiss. And it’s nice to see you two together.” Pyrrha smiled. _That means I can get more of Jaune all to myself! … Wait, I still have these thoughts? I would’ve thought I’d have grown out of them._

“Don’t you have a husband, Thetis? You must’ve been with someone to have Pyrrha.” Qrow asked. Jaune and Pyrrha cringed in sync at the touchy subject, but Thetis smiled, crossing her arms.

“Yes, I used to have a husband for a few years… I curse myself every day for marrying that man. Only good quality is that he gave me Pyrrha. He was despicable, and I divorced him whilst Pyrrha was still at Signal.” Thetis explained. “He actually became a homeless drunk after I left him… And I learnt a few months after I had divorced him that he was killed by Grimm when trying to _fist fight_ one of them!”

“That’s rather dark, don’t you think?” Yang said. Thetis shook her head.

“He was pure evil, and I’m quite frankly _glad_ he’s gone from my life.” Thetis replied. Qrow took a swig from his drink, shaking his own head.

“It takes a lot to piss off Thetis, I know that for a fact. The guy must’ve been a real ass.” He commented. Thetis scoffed, looking down at the floor.

“More than you can believe.” She sighed.

“If we’re going for this tone, I believe now’s the time to tell you guys something.” Yang spoke up. She nodded to Qrow, and he returned it. All eyes were on the blonde. “I’m sorry for not telling you about this earlier… But we are in some danger.”

“Danger? How so?” Pyrrha asked. Yang sighed, a worried expression upon her face.

“Roman Torchwick used to have a side woman by the name of Neo. They worked together on just about everything they did. I’m sure you all heard about Roman’s death at the Fall of Beacon.” Yang explained to which everyone nodded. “Well… Neo survived, and she’s returned. She’s after me and my team. She won’t stop until we’re all dead.”

“And I’m not letting that happen.” Qrow said.

“All we need is for you to be cautious. She could be anywhere. All of us against her shouldn’t be a problem, but she’s fast and I believe her semblance is illusions, so she can trick you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this yesterday, JNPR, but… You were already overwhelmed.” Yang apologized. Jaune shook his head

“It’s alright.” Jaune responded. “We know what we need to do. Keep our guard up, and help you fight her when the time comes.” Everyone agreed, nodding their heads. Thetis, Qrow, Winter, everyone. All of these people were enough to put Yang at some ease.

“Thank you.” Yang said.

“I haven’t had a good fight in a while. Hopefully she’ll come for me. It’ll be interesting to see what her skills would be like.” Thetis chuckled. Pyrrha lightly punched her mother on the arm, shaking her head.

“I almost forgot how crazy about fights you are. Against you, no one can stand a chance.” Pyrrha smiled, to which Thetis grinned at.

“Ms. Schnee?” A voice sounded from the door, and everyone turned to see the same doctor, by his side was an extremely short nurse, smiling. “I’m sorry to interrupt the reunion, but I’d like to check Weiss conscious condition and test a few basic things like walking and such. It shouldn’t take long, but she’ll need some space for a few short minutes.”

“That’s fine. Come on, guys.” Ruby said as she kissed Weiss on the cheek and stood up, walking out of the hospital room. Everyone followed her, a smile on their faces at the sense of relief they had that everything was going to be okay. Even with Neo around, she can’t possibly win against eleven people at once. Finally, everything was going to be okay.

As Yang exited the room, she accidentally bumped the small nurse. “Oops. Sorry about that.” She apologized. However, the nurse simply smirked at the blonde, and Yang raised a brow.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the nurse placed a finger against her mouth in a shush gesture. Then, she winked, closing the eyelid on her left eye.

And as she winked, her left eye color changed from brown to a _familiar pale pink…_


	9. The Big Showdown

_Seven years ago..._

_There’s nothing in here that I can even afford… Not like I was planning to buy much, anyway._

The huge dust shop was a mere distraction from the harsh realities of life for the fourteen-year-old girl. She had long brown hair going down halfway down her back, and she wore a pink shirt and black suit pants, one of the few clothes she even had. This girl didn’t have a home to come to or parents to meet. For as long as she could remember, the streets were her only home.

She didn’t even have a name; she never remembered what her parents gave her. She had received multiple names from a lot of different people, but those people were usually insulting her with the names before a fight. Out on the streets and in the dumps, the girl knew she had to fight to survive.

And she sure as hell fought. She had never been beaten her whole life. She was quick and flexible, which countered most of her opponents that preferred brute strength. She knew she must’ve gotten training _somewhere_ before. She just didn’t remember. Wherever it was, it was where she got her weapon, too.

It appeared to just be a normal umbrella, but it could sustain a lot of hits to block bullets and missiles, and on the inside was a long, sharp, needle like blade used for the more gruesome executions. She could also split the umbrella in half to form pistols, one for each hand, and those were mostly used when the enemy was too far away.

She didn’t need to be using her weapon today, however. It was a boring day with not many fights going on, which disappointed the girl. She needed the money to even keep herself alive, and going a day without was like torture for her. So she instead opted to look around the nearest dust store just to distract herself for the time being. It was a sunny day outside, at least. She wouldn’t get rained on tonight, hopefully.

“This interest ya, kid?” A man asked, slightly startling the girl. She looked up to see a teenager about three years older than her with orange hair, a bowler hat and a red-lined white suit jacket with black pants. The girl nodded to the teen, not saying any words.

There was another thing that made life tough for this girl: She couldn’t speak.

“This right here,” The teen pointed the flowing red dust. “This is fire dust. If I shot at this, the whole store could go down in flames. But then that’d be stopped by the ice dust, right here.” The teen pointed to the light blue dust. “So that wouldn’t work either. Not that I’m planning to take down this place. I’m just trying to act normal so that the security guard would get off my ass.”

The girl’s pink and brown eyes slightly widened, and she looked behind her to see the dark-skinned security guard wondering the dust shop as per usual. “What’s your name, kid?” The teen asked, and the girl looked up to him, pointing to her throat and opening her mouth slightly. “Can’t speak, huh? Mute?”

The girl shook her head. She formed a fist and banged it at her throat, and the teen understood what she was saying. “Got injured there? Must’ve been a tough fight. What’d you do to the guy that made you like this?” The teen asked. Neo slightly grinned, and she grabbed the handle of her umbrella, slightly pulling to reveal a little bit of the blade underneath. The teen whistled. “You don’t hold any punches. Well, I’m Roman Torchwick, and I’m planning to rob this place.”

Roman knew that the girl was mute so she couldn’t scream out for help. Not like she was planning to in the first place. She simply tilted her head. _Something’s finally happening? Thank god._

“I’ll let you go. I like you, kid. I’ll see ya around, hopefully.” Roman said as the security guard went back to the back rooms and away from the counter so that he wouldn’t spot Roman. The orange haired teen walked up to the clerk at the counter and the girl knew she should probably leave right now and watch the fireworks from afar. But she wanted to see what was going to happen and how this Roman would pull off the heist.

“Let’s make this clean and simple. All the dust, all the lien, all to me. You follow my rules and no one gets hurt.” Roman commanded as the girl hid behind one of the dust holders. She peaked over the corner to see the clerk wasn’t putting up a fight as Roman’s cane was pointed towards him. The girl peeked to the other side to see the security guard was walking back into the room. The girl had a slight jolt at the sight of him, and as soon as the man saw Roman, he pointed his pistol at him.

“Stop! Drop your weapon!” The guard shouted as loud as possible, and it was clear to the girl that Roman had _not_ planned this whatsoever.

“Alright, alright, easy there. No need for all the hostility.” Roman calmly spoke. It was clear the guard was inexperienced; his weapon was shaking in his hand. With that level of inexperience, no doubt he was going to shoot Roman sometime soon, on purpose or accidentally.

The girl shouldn’t have cared. She should’ve left this fool to his demise. She should’ve walked out the door.

But she _didn’t_.

She started to sneak up behind the guard, slowly drawing the blade from within her umbrella, holding it backhanded. The guard started stepping towards Roman as he kept his hands up, and it was at that moment Roman spotted the girl sneaking slowly behind the nervous guard…

She stood up, aiming for the back of the knee, before swinging the blade down. It went through the guard’s knee like the bone wasn’t even there, and the guard screamed out in pain, dropping the pistol and falling. The girl pulled the blade out of his knee as he curled up in a ball on the ground, holding his stabbed leg.

“My, isn’t this a turn of events!” Roman yelled out as the girl walked around the guard, stepping on his shoulder and pinning him. She held the blade up again, pointing it directly at his heart as he looked into the girl’s eyes.

“Please… I don’t wanna die… Please…” The guard was truly terrified, his pupils dilated to the point where they were barely visible, and his pulse pounded faster than ever before. The girl might’ve shown mercy, maybe she would’ve let him go…

But, mercy wasn’t one of her attributes.

She bared a full-teeth grin, and plunged, sinking the blade directly into the guard’s heart as he let out one last gasp, grasping both hands over the blade. His eyes went empty, and he went limp, his soul and life leaving his body. The girl pulled the blade out of his heart, wiping the blood off on the guard’s sleeve. The girl looked up to Roman, smiling and tilting her head in a cute fashion.

“Well… You really saved my skin. Guess I owe you.” Roman scoffed. “Say, kid… You got any home to come back to? Family or whatnot?” He asked, and the girl shook her head. Roman’s grinned bared fully, and he chuckled. “Then I’ve got an offer for you. Come with me, and I will set you up for _life._ You can be my partner in crime. We got a deal?”

The girl couldn’t believe the turn of events that had occurred, but she was quite glad to have them happen to her. She didn’t know if she could go any longer on the streets with limited resources. This could only prove to be useful to her. She nodded at Roman. “Good. I’ve got a place for you, then. I should probably give you a name first, though…” Roman leaned down to the girl’s height, and he looked into her eyes. “Pink and brown… With white skin… Kinda reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream. Change that up a bit…”

Roman stood up, crossing his arms and smiling down at the girl. “I think I’ll call you Neopolitan, or Neo, for short. You like that?” Roman asked, to which the girl now known as Neo immediately nodded to. “Follow me. I know _exactly_ where to take you.” Roman said as he started to walk out the store, Neo following him. “But first… Take out that clerk. He annoyed me.”

Neo looked to the terrified clerk, and smiled at him. She pulled her umbrella apart, forming the pistols, before aiming them at the clerk, causing him to yelp out in fear. Neo slightly giggled, placing her finger on the trigger.

Then, she fired.

* * *

 

_Six years later…_

The now twenty-year-old Neo heard the huge door to the warehouse open, and she looked to her left. She laid down on a crate of dust where she had been waiting for Roman all day to return from one of his dust robberies. This time, he had actually purchased some men from a nearby night club, and Roman took about half of those men to one of the robberies. The other half were under Neo’s watch at the warehouse, and quite frankly, she had gotten _sick_ of them.

“My, oh my, were those boys _useless!_ They couldn’t handle themselves against a little girl with a big scythe!” Roman cried out loud, which all the men heard, looking towards him. Neo swung her legs over the crate, clicking her tongue at Roman and shaking her head. _Shouldn’t have said that, dear._

“Where’s the rest of them?! You said you’d bring them back, you lying son of a bitch!” One of the thugs shouted, already drawing his machete-like weapon. Roman watched about nine men drew their weapons and aimed them all at him. Neo looked around her to see all the pissed off thugs, and she couldn’t help but slightly giggled at how much mess Roman had made.

Roman sighed. “Cinder said you were disposable anyway… Neo, could you please take care of these guys? It’s been a long day. Feel free to do what you do best. We’ll be using the White Fang from here on out anyway, so we’ve got no need for these guys.”

Neo nodded, slowly walking in front of the line of fire. All weapons were instead pointed at her, and some of the thugs laughed at her. “What the hell is this midget gonna do?” One man called out. Neo closed her eyes slowly, bowing her head.

Then, in a flash, she and Roman were gone. “H-Huh?!” The same thug called out. Everyone started looking around for the two of them, but no sightings were being made. “Keep your guard up, they could be anywhere!”

In an instant, one of the thugs screamed out, and everyone looked to see he had just been sliced in the stomach by Neo, but they couldn’t catch her in time before she disappeared again. What was really going was that she had used her semblance to blend herself in the environment so no one could see her. She was simply walking between men and quickly disposing of them.

She sliced another one in the neck, and another was stabbed straight through the heart. She kept going in between thug after thug after thug, until eventually, only one remained. He kept looking around for any signs of life, but none were coming. He kept a tight grip on his rifle, sweat running through his palms. “C-Come out! I-I’ll shoot!”

Neo giggled, and it echoed through the entire warehouse, causing the thug to shiver. He heard footsteps, and turned around to find Neo walking slowly towards him, a grin on her face. He fired a series of shots, and Neo simply swung her umbrella around, deflecting the shots until the thug was out of ammo. Neo tilted her head, smiling as she was within the thug’s reach. She used the advantage of the thug being scared out of his mind to launch a kick into his chest, sending him flying into a pillar. He groaned in pain, looking up at Neo.

Neo was standing over him, preventing him from getting up, and she grinned as she placed a foot against the thug’s shin. Without wasting a second and with no time for the man to fight back, she pressed down, breaking the bone and bending the leg at an awkward angle.

The thug screamed out in utter pain as his shin bent in half, and he gripped it, only sending more jolts of pain through it. Neo smiled as she summoned the blade from the tip of her umbrella. She lined it up with the thug’s right eye.

“You never fail to impress me, Neo.” Roman said as he lit a cigar in his mouth, walking up next to the girl. “Body disposal might be a problem, but we’ll get Emerald and Mercury to do it. We’ve done our bit for the day, don’t you think?” Roman asked, to which Neo nodded. “Now, get rid of this last one.”

She looked at the thug, a smile beaming on her face, the blade aimed at his right eye.

Then, she thrusted her weapon forward.

“ _AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ ”

* * *

 

_Present Day…_

“Ooops. Sorry about that.”

Yang accidentally bumped into the small nurse, who looked up at the blonde, a smile forming on her face, making Yang raise a brow. She placed a finger to her mouth, performing a shushing gesture, and winked. Yang noticed that with the wink, the nurse’s eye color changed from brown to a _familiar pale pink…_

Yang’s breath cut for a few short seconds. “W-Wait! Stop!” Yang cried out, but she was too late as Neo slammed the door in her face and locked it. Yang desperately placed her hands against the door, her eyes widened and her breathing at rapid speeds. She felt like she was going to pass out. _No… We just got Weiss back… I can’t…_

“Yang? What’s wrong?” Blake asked, placing a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Neo’s in there! Neo’s the nurse! S-She’s going to kill Weiss!” Yang panicked. Ruby immediately stood up in shock, her eyes wide and panic spread across her entire body. Wasting no time, she immediately went to sprint to the door to save Weiss, but Qrow simply grabbed her by the neck, letting her run but not getting her anywhere as she struggled to break free.

“You’re all the queens of over exaggerations, aren’t you?” Qrow asked, to which no one answered him. “You really think this Neo chick is gonna kill Weiss when we’re all right out here and there’s cameras watching her in there? I think she’d be smart if she had the brains to beat Yang in a fight. She’s probably here to scare you guys, and I reckon she’s doing a pretty good job of that.”

Yang knew that Qrow was right, as hard as it was to admit. _I really hope he’s right…_ Yang turned around, leaning her back on the door and sighing. “Pyrrha… I couldn’t help but notice she didn’t recognize you in there. I’d have thought she’d react to you being alive.”

“I was about to mention that. She didn’t seem all that surprised to see me.” Pyrrha wondered. Qrow slightly chuckled, placing a hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

“Something tells me she might’ve been a tad too distracted by her new _girlfriend_.” He teased, causing Ruby to slightly blush. She slapped Qrow’s hand away, crossing her arms as her face lit up like the shade of a tomato.

“S-She was just high on painkillers and stuff! Perfectly normal!” Ruby countered back, causing Yang to slightly snicker.

“Sure it was.” Yang teased as Ruby’s face grew redder whilst she turned away from her sister. Before Yang could get another jab in, the door that she was leaning on suddenly opened, and she waved her arms in circles trying to keep her balance, but to no luck as she felt into Weiss’ room.

 “Oh, so sorry about that!” The doctor said, jogging over to Yang, who was dazed on the floor. She looked up to see Neo covering her mouth, slightly giggling at her, before walking past everyone else and going down the hallway, the doctor following her after helping Yang up and apologizing. Although everyone wanted to attack her, Neo could make the situation appear that she was an innocent nurse that had done nothing, which could equal bad news. Plus, they needed somewhere better to fight.

Ruby ran into the room to see Weiss sitting on the edge of her bed, smiling at the rest of the group. Ruby wasted no time running over to Weiss and hugging her as tight as possible, much to Weiss’ surprise. “R-Ruby? Are you alright?”

“Shut up and love me.” Ruby squeaked out as she tightened the hug around the ice queen. Yang looked to the desk next to Weiss to see a note that wasn’t there before, no doubt left by Neo. Yang picked it up, reading the contents out loud to everyone else.

 _Hello again, bimbo._  
Do you specifically remember what I said in my last letter to you?  
No guests. And what did you do? You bought that red-headed bitch to save your ass.  
Well, you know what the consequences are now. I’m not waiting to off you all one by one.  
I’m killing you all tonight. In Mistral. 7:00 PM.  
This is all your fault, Yang. If you had just embraced death like any normal person, none of this would have to happen.  
Maybe you can apologize to your friends as you draw your last breath. It’s what any decent person would do.  
If you somehow want to fight back, meet me outside the hospital at the time mentioned above.  
No matter how many you bring, they’ll all fall.  
Your blood will stain the streets. And you’ll all burn in hell.

_-Neo_

“She isn’t the most collected of people, is she?” Winter asked, to which Yang shook her head.

“Ruby, Weiss, how’s your condition? You reckon you can fight?” Yang asked, to which both girls immediately nodded. “Good. Last time, she took me on just by myself and nearly killed me… But this time, there are no rules to play by, and we can make up a plan.”

“What’ve you got in mind?” Blake asked. Yang smirked, walking to the center of the room.

“Tonight, we end things with Neo. She’s a highly skilled fighter, and she sounded confident in taking us all on at once. So we need to weaken her down, little by little.” Yang explained. She walked over to Blake, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Blake and I will go first, cutting her off directly outside the hospital and fighting her for some time. Once we exhaust her a bit, I’ll make the signal for Ruby and Weiss to come in. Four against one should be enough for her to be at least a little bit tired.”

“Got it. I’ll get my gear ready.” Ruby said as she went into the bathroom to get an outfit change. Yang waved an arm over Team JNPR. “You four will go after us, and we’ll back out for some time to regain our stamina and aura. Once you are all done, Qrow, Winter and Thetis will finish up the job, with us eight helping if needed.”

“I don’t think you’ll need me.” Thetis spoke. Qrow nodded in agreement as Yang raised a brow.

“I know her. Thetis has always fought better alone. In a big group, she doesn’t do her best. And we all know we only need her at her best.” Qrow explained. Yang nodded, understanding as she smiled towards Thetis.

“You’ll be an emergency back-up in case anything goes wrong. Just be warned, if you jump in, we’ll all jump out. You’ll be fighting alone.” Yang said, and Thetis smiled at the blonde, nodding.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll keep a watch from the distance. You should all be fine, though.” Thetis complimented.

“We all understand? Not a single mistake can be made. Neo is deadly, and she won’t be afraid to kill you.” Yang warned, but everyone agreed to the plan. _This is great! As strong as Neo is, I don’t think she has any abilities to clear out a whole group of enemies, and everyone has their limits in their stamina._

“Alright. My team will go back to get our weapon and gear.” Jaune said. “This reminds me… Thetis, you said you had Pyrrha’s stuff?”

“Oh! I nearly forgot!” Thetis cried out in surprise. She reached behind her back, pulling out the familiar Akoúo̱ shield and handing it to Pyrrha. Then, she pulled the brand-new Miló spear, with a slightly new paint job that made the red and gold shinier and brighter. “No new modifications have been made, so it’ll work same as always. Just smoother now.”

“Thanks, mom!” Pyrrha smiled, turning the spear in her hand and inspecting all sides. It looked so brand new, it was almost hypnotizing.

“And I believe this belongs to you.” Thetis smiled as she handed Pyrrha her familiar bronze headpiece, forged out of the best metal the blacksmith could find. Pyrrha took it in her hands, rubbing it slightly and looking at her reflection. She placed it atop her head in the same position it always used to be in.

“It looks amazing on you.” Jaune complimented as he smiled to Pyrrha, and the girl returned it.

“Hang on a second… Pyrrha? Is that you?” Weiss asked as she locked eyes with the red-haired warrior herself. “Since when were you here? And how? Am I seeing things?”

“ _DID YOU REALLY JUST NOTICE HER?!_ ” Ruby cried out from the bathroom, laughing uncontrollably.

“Well I’m sorry some big doofus was blocking my vision from her!” Weiss snapped back, causing Ruby to laugh even louder from the bathroom.

“I wasn’t even in front of you!” Ruby giggled, causing Weiss to slightly fume. Everyone in the room was holding back their laughter as the ice queen was utterly humiliated.

“Well, how did she come back, then? At least explain that!” She asked.

“Her mom has this cool resurrection semblance that she used to bring her back! It was really awesome!” Ruby answered. Weiss locked eyes with Thetis, and the mother shrugged, slightly smiling.

“I mean, she isn’t lying.” Thetis explained.  Weiss closed her eyes, taking a breath to calm herself, before opening her eyes and smiling up at Pyrrha.

“It’s good to have you back. Not only as a good fighter… But as a good person.” Weiss complimented. Before the conversation could go on, Ruby called out from the bathroom, interrupting Pyrrha as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Sis! How do I look?” Ruby asked as she unlocked the bathroom door. Yang looked as the door opened and Ruby stepped out, a smile on her face. Yang nodded, a gigantic grin forming on her face at the sight of her sister in that special gear.

“You look _awesome._ ”

* * *

 

The pink and brown haired girl walked down the main streets of Mistral towards the hospital, her nurse outfit was now gone and switched with her usual clothes. She held the umbrella over her shoulder; the top was out and covering her. The cloud was dark and night had fallen, but the clouds covered the sky and coldness swarmed the land. It looked like rain would soon fall.

 _Doesn’t look like anyone is here… They may be going in for an ambush. Better keep my guard up._ Neo acted as if she didn’t suspect a thing as she stopped out the front of the hospital, looking up and smiling, doing up the umbrella and spinning it on her finger.

Blake and Yang hid behind nearby stores, watching her around the corner. She simply stood there, waiting. “You go behind her. Once she notices you, hold her off for a bit and I’ll take her from the side.” Yang told Blake, and she nodded, jumping onto the roof of the store. Blake crouched atop it, her dark clothes and hair blending with the night, the only light being that of streetlamps. No one walked near a hospital during the night.

The guards had been informed of the plan, and they were keeping watch from afar, but they knew the threat of Neo. They really just needed to stay out of the way and let the trained Hunters and Huntresses handle the situation. Blake dropped to the concrete ground, her landing making no sound whatsoever. She unsheathed her blade, sneaking up behind Neo, slowly standing. She thrusted her blade into Neo’s back, but instantly, Neo shattered into multiple shards of glass.

Blake was taken by shock, but she soon turned around to find Neo standing right behind her. Blake swung from the side and Neo blocked, before going on the attack. She swung her umbrella and legs at extreme speeds, but Blake kept blocking and dodging, using her semblance frequently in an attempt to disorientate Neo. She dropped an ice clone, but Neo quickly caught the trick and backed off instantly, going for the real Blake. _She can spot my clones almost instantly… She’s got good eyes and reaction timing._

Blake immediately starting flipping back, landing on her hands then feet. “Yang!” Blake called out, and Neo looked up to see the blonde launch herself from behind the building, holding a fist next to her neck. She immediately shot it forward, firing a missile from her gauntlets and hitting Neo directly. Yang landed next to Blake, looking at the crater and smoke caused by the explosion. “Did that get her?” Blake asked, to which Yang immediately shook her head. _No, she’s far too skilled to be taken down by that. But it bought us some time._

Slowly, a figure appeared in the smoke, walking towards them. They carried an umbrella, the blade sticking out the front slicing the ground, shooting off multiple sparks as it skidded along. Neo emerged from the smoke, slightly grinning as she raised her umbrella and grabbed both sides, pulling it in half. The halves turned into pistols, and she aimed them at Yang and Blake, a full teeth smile on her face.

As Neo giggled, Yang only had one thought. _What the hell is with this chick?_

Neo then opened fire, and both Blake and Yang started flipping back, dodging the bullets. Neo fired the guns at an extreme speed, and it was almost like they didn’t need reloading. Blake summoned the pistol on her weapon and landed on her feet, before firing at Neo. The ice cream girl quickly put her umbrella back together, before moving it around, blocking the bullets where they were shooting at. Blake threw her pistol back at Yang, and the blonde gripped onto it.

Blake used the fabric tied to the pistol to spin Yang around, and Neo unfolded the top of her umbrella. Yang spun straight into Neo, attempting to punch at her but hitting the top of the umbrella instead. Neo quickly folded up her umbrella as Yang started her combo.

She launched a flurry of punches that Neo all blocked with her umbrella and legs, and Yang even attempted some kicks, launching one at her ankle, legs and chest in one go, to which Neo all blocked with her umbrella. Neo unfolded the top of her weapon, blocking one of Yang’s punches, before folding it up and grabbing Yang’s arm, holding it over her shoulder, before shooting her incredibly flexible legs over her shoulder, kicking Yang in the face.

Blake jumped in as Yang staggered away, and she attempted multiple swings with her two blades, attempting to use her clones to get behind Neo or confuse her, but the girl was too fast. She swung her weapon at incredible speeds, blocking each and every swipe from Blake. The Faunus aimed her pistol at Neo, and she raised her left leg, blocking three shots with her bullet-proof boots. She swung the same boot at Blake’s wrist, pinning it to the ground, before swinging the foot up and kicking Blake directly in the face. Blake staggered up, and Neo took the opportunity to launch a sweet flurry of kicks to Blake’s face with just her left foot, before kicking her directly in the side of the jaw, staggering her.

Yang and Blake quickly attempted to attack Neo at the same time, but the girl kept a simple smug as she blocked every punch from Yang with her umbrella and every swing from Blake with her legs. She didn’t even appear to be losing any stamina, and Neo quickly took the opportunity to wrap the hook end of her umbrella around Yang’s neck, before slamming her into Blake, shooting the Faunus back. Neo kicked Yang in the back with her neck still in the handle, severely lowering her aura, before spinning and throwing Yang at Blake.

The pair hit the ground away from Neo, and the ice cream girl simply slung the umbrella over her shoulders, blowing a kiss at the duo. _That smug son of a…_ Yang stood up, simply grinning at Neo. “You think that’s all we got? We weren’t even _trying._ ”

Yang held up a fist, opening and closing it to send some sort of signal. Neo looked up and left to see a girl in a white dress charging directly at her, her feet not touching the ground and her weapon pointed directly at her. She held out her umbrella quickly, but the girl in the white dress hit hard, knocking Neo back a few steps. Neo recovered, trying to swing at the girl in white, but she was parried by something, staggering her.

Neo looked up to see the girl in red, a large scythe in hand, a grin on her face. _Ruby Rose…_

Neo watched as Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang stood side by side, readying their weapons. Neo’s glare was locked with Ruby’s silver eyes. _This is the bitch that killed my Roman… I finally have a chance, my love. Just got to get her insolent friends out of the way._

At this point in time, right before the intense battle, Yang had a sudden realization as she looked at her team. All of them, standing side by side, ready for combat for the first time in so many months… Yang grinned.

Team RWBY was finally reunited.

Yang charged first, shooting behind her and launching herself into Neo, punching her blocking umbrella. Neo spun around to dodge the incoming swipes from Blake, but she didn’t catch the incoming ice forming into the ground and coming in her direction. The ice wrapped itself around Neo’s feet, locking her in position.

Yang grinned, cocking her Ember Celica’s, delivering one of the hardest punches in her life towards Neo. The ice cream girl leaned back, wrapping the handle of her umbrella around Yang’s wrist and tossing her towards Ruby. The red girl quickly used her semblance to dodge Yang.

Neo took her umbrella apart, summoned her pistols, and fired at the ice, destroying it. She jumped, flipping and firing in all directions at Team RWBY, each using a separate move to block the bullets. Ruby swung her scythe at Neo, and she leaned back, going on defense as Ruby went on a flurry with the overly large weapon.

She suddenly turned Crescent Rose into the sniper she loved, and jumped up, firing at Neo, who held out her umbrella and blocked the shot, but it skidded her back a little. Weiss attempted to make this the opportunity to get behind Neo and hit her from behind, but the ice cream girl was having none of that. She spun around, wrapping the handle around Weiss’ neck, and swung her towards Ruby. However, Weiss prepared, and she summoned a glyph, stopping her midair. She summoned one behind Ruby, before launching both of them at Neo.

Neo held out a foot, and Weiss’ stomach directly hit it, winding the girl. Neo held out her umbrella, Ruby’s neck directly hitting the handle. Neo’s foot hit the ground, stomping Weiss into it, and Neo swung her umbrella up high, before smashing it into the concrete along with Ruby, lowering both of their auras severely.

“Blake, our aura is already low enough. We need them.” Yang cautioned. Yang raised a hand, forming a J with her index finger and thumb.

“I got it!” Nora shouted from a distance, and the sound of a grenade launcher shot echoed. Neo saw Nora launching directly from the sky towards her, and she unfolded her umbrella, ready to block. Nora flipped in the air before swinging her hammer. Not at Neo’s umbrella, but instead at the ground in front of Neo, launching her directly into the air.

Ren came from behind, her StormFlower blades swiping rapidly at Neo whilst she was in the air. She blocked all of the swipes with her legs, shooting a kick at Ren’s chest and launching him away as she hit the ground.

Neo heard footsteps from behind, and turned around and swung, directly hitting the shield that belonged to Jaune Arc. This distracted her from Pyrrha coming from another side, swinging her spear from above. Neo quickly blocked, but Jaune used one of Pyrrha’s strategies, swiping his leg and hooking it around Neo’s ankles, tripping her.

Pyrrha attempting to swing down on her, but Neo raised a leg, blocking the multiple swipes, before spinning and getting back on her feet, now facing Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren standing side by side with weapons ready.

Neo attempted to go for Jaune first, but Pyrrha immediately blocked her swing, a death stare in her eyes as the two girls engaged in a lock, pushing their blades against each other. However, Pyrrha was merely buying time for Nora to fire a flurry of grenades at Neo, and she noticed the shots, immediately exiting the lock and flipping back.

“Ruby, give me some zap!” Nora yelled, and the red girl nodded, loading electricity dust into her sniper. Nora launched herself towards Neo, and Ruby shot at Nora, the electricity hitting her and charging her semblance. Neo looked up to see Nora flying towards her, her feet on the business end of her hammer and a hand rose above her eyes. Neo held out her umbrella to block the shot. However, this was far too strong, and Nora’s hammer connected with her umbrella, launching Neo into the air.

She hit the ground, rolling as she did, and Ren attempting to attack her as she was rolling on the ground. Neo noticed this, and swung the handle of her umbrella, wrapping it around the back of Ren’s neck and stopping her rolling by shooting a foot directly into Ren’s stomach, winding the man. Neo’s feet hit the ground, and she swung Ren above her and directly into the concrete, forming a crater where he hit.

“ _Ren!_ ” Nora cried out, launching herself at Neo yet again out of protectiveness. Neo noticed the hammer girl flying towards her, and she stuck out a boot, her foot directly connecting with Nora’s jaw. Her aura was already low by this blow, but Neo finished it off by wrapping the handle around Nora’s ankle and swinging her, smashing her into the ground as well.

Neo heard footsteps behind her, and swung her umbrella, directly connecting it with Jaune’s shield. Neo quickly took apart her weapon, forming the pistols, and fired one at Jaune, to which he blocked all shots with the shield. She aimed the other pistol around, looking for Pyrrha.

Neo heard wing rushing, and looked to see Pyrrha charging from above, shield at the ready. She put her umbrella back together again, and unfolded it. Pyrrha’s shield connected with Neo’s umbrella, and Pyrrha quickly backed away, transforming the spear into its rifle and firing it at Neo. She blocked all shots with the unfolded umbrella, and quickly noticed Jaune swinging his sword at her.

Neo raised a foot, blocking Jaune’s blade with her boot, before kicking it away and kicking Jaune in the leg, stomach then face, before launching a boot into his chest and shooting him back. Pyrrha turned her rifle back into its spear, swinging it at Neo, who folded her umbrella and blocked the swing.

Neo blocked the incoming swings and shots from Pyrrha, but only just barely. Pyrrha threw her shield at the ground, and it deflected off the concrete into a nearby store and back at Neo, who quickly ducked. Pyrrha caught her shield, and Neo jumped on the top of it. Pyrrha tried to fire her shield and launch Neo back but the girl held on with the handle of her umbrella as the shield fired, and Neo flipped around, kicking Pyrrha in the back, before landing behind the girl and hooking Pyrrha’s ankles, tripping her. As she fell forward, Neo swung her umbrella into Pyrrha’s back, launching her directly into the ground.

Neo flipped back and admired her work. Team RWBY was low on stamina and aura, and Team JNPR was recovering from their beatings. _And here I was expecting more of a fight._ Neo didn’t even seem the slightest bit exhausted, and she took very little hits to her aura. Yang simply chuckled as everyone gathered together. “You think that’s it?”

Suddenly, two wind rushes came from both sides, and Neo flipped back, dodging the incoming charges. Two people hit the ground where Neo once stood. Neo recognized them as Winter Schnee and Qrow Branwen. “Now the _real_ fighting begins.”

 _That’s a lot of them…_ Neo looked at the group before them. Winter and Qrow had their weapons drawn, ready to take on Neo. She simply tilted her head, smiling. _You utter morons._

Neo used her semblance. In a flash, she was _gone._

“Keep your guard up, Branwen.” Winter raised her sword higher as Neo disappeared. Qrow and Winter looked around for the girl who had started to blend in with her environment. She only used this semblance for packs since it took some time to recharge after usage. “Everyone else, keep your guard- _AGH!_ ”

Winter was suddenly struck by Neo’s blade, but her aura took the hit. She swung at where she thought Neo was, but again, she was gone. “Winter, you okay?” Qrow asked, and she nodded.

“Just a scratch, I’ll be-“

What happened next was most certainly _not_ scratches.

Neo started swinging from all sides, disappearing and appearing with each shot, using her invisibility and speed to attack from where no one could predict. Winter and Qrow attempted to retaliate but they couldn’t hit her. She was visible at each hit, but she kept flashing away each second. Weiss could only watched, horrified as Winter took every single one of Neo’s hits. _Winter… Just hang on, you’ll stop her!_

“Winter, your aura’s nearly down! Get away!” Qrow shouted as he attempted to swing at Neo, but the ice cream girl gave no time for Winter to block or move or do anything, and as predicted, Winter’s aura soon went down.

As soon as it did, Neo ceased her attacks, giving Winter some room and some time to breath. “W-Winter?! Are you alright?!” Weiss called out. Winter’s eyes locked with her sisters, and she stood up, trying to regain balance. She turned her body towards Weiss.

“I’ll-“

Winter was suddenly cut off as Neo flashed into visibility again, her umbrella gone and the needle-blade in her hand. She had a wide grin on her face, and no one, not even Qrow could react to what she did.

Neo thrusted her blade forward, spearing it directly though Winter’s back before it poked out of her stomach. Winter lost her breath immediately as the blade was plunged into her. Winter’s weapon hit the ground and Weiss’ eyes widened in absolute horror. “Weiss, don’t look!” Ruby cried, trying to get her away from the sight, but it was too late.

Winter’s throat filled with blood, and she coughed some out. Neo heard Qrow scream and swing at her, and she quickly pulled the blade out of Winter, flipping away. Winter landed on her knees, clutching at the stab wound in her stomach, before she hit the ground, passing out.

Weiss couldn’t find the words to speak or cry out. She held her hands to her head, her breath shuddering and her heart racing faster than ever before. No one could say anything, their eyes were all wide and their jaws unhinged. _If… If my sister can go down to that monster…_ Weiss’ pupils dilated as panic began to set in. _Then what chance do we have?! We’re… We’re all going to die!_

And then, Weiss screamed. Tears filled her eyes, and she screamed louder than ever before. And Neo _loved every second_ of it. She _bathed_ in her suffering, she showered in her despair. Neo attempted to finish the job by swiping at Qrow, who raised his sword to block.

But, he didn’t get a chance to. Neo’s blade was blocked by someone else. Another Huntress with red hair and knight’s armor jumped in, blocking the swing. Qrow froze at the sight of her.

“T-Thetis!” Qrow cried. Thetis’ eyes met with Qrow’s, a serious and stern expression on her face.

“Qrow, get Winter out of here, now. She’s losing blood.” Thetis instructed. Qrow hesitated, not sure if he should stay and fight or follow Thetis’ orders. But she made the decision for him. “ _NOW, BRANWEN!”_

Qrow nodded, scooping up Winter and taking her away from the battlefield. Neo backed away from the blocking, sheathing her blade back in her umbrella. _So, is this Pyrrha’s mother? This should be good._

“Everyone, I need you to stand back do _not_ try to interfere. I don’t need any distractions.” Thetis ordered, to which everyone nodded. “Pyrrha, if I do get into some trouble, bail me out, will ya?”

“I will.” Pyrrha nodded. Neo slung the umbrella over her shoulders as Thetis held a spear almost exactly the same as Pyrrha’s behind her back. She glared deeply into Neo’s pink and brown eyes as she tilted her head and smiled.

“So you’re the girl who’s been terrorizing these kids, huh? Then I think it’s time…” Thetis pressed a button, and suddenly, the spear extended, another blade sticking out of the other side, making the spear double-ended. It could also be taken apart into halves to use a dual wield weapon, or be transformed into two miniature versions of Pyrrha’s rifle. Thetis spun the double-ended spear around her back, before planting an end into the concrete.

“To end all of this, right here, right now.”

Team RWBY and JNPR stood back as Thetis and Neo stared off, the intensity rising. Whatever the outcome, everyone knew the same thing…

This was going to be a battle for the ages.


	10. Death Is Here

The thing that hit most was the utter silence.

Rain scattered and dropped on concrete, blades and skin. Thetis and Neo’s hair was hit with the droplets, messing and wetting their manes. Team RWBY and JNPR had all backed off into any cover under stores and roofs. Pyrrha was on the ready to charge out at any second on command.

The two women were waiting for the other to make their first moves. Neo felt as if she had enough to use just the last of her disappearing act, which not even Winter Schnee could dodge. Thetis had a feeling that would be Neo’s next move, so she waited patiently.

After it was drained, Neo’s invisibility took time to charge back up. Once she used the rest of it, she planned to keep Thetis busy by staying on the defense, before using it again and finishing the red haired Huntress off. Neo started moving in a circle, and Thetis took her weapon out of the concrete, staying opposite of Neo as she moved in that circle. Neo attempted to intimidate Thetis by summoning the blade from the tip of her umbrella and scraping it along the ground, creating a sick screeching sound.

Thetis tightened the grip on her blade, and held her positioning, causing Neo to freeze as well. She grinned at Thetis, pointing the umbrella at Thetis. Then, Neo suddenly disappeared. Pyrrha’s breath went cold as Neo vanished. _That move is what got to Winter… Mom needs to be careful. Neo cannot start her flurry of attacks, or it’s over._

Thetis closed her eyes, standing still, much to the confusion of the two teams. She breathed slowly, letting her hearing take over her body. Weiss looked away, not wanting to see another victim to this attack. Ruby looked over to the white haired girl, and wrapped an arm around her.

“Weiss…” Ruby whispered. She looked up to Ruby as the red girl placed a kiss on her forehead. “Winter will be alright. I’m so, so sorry about what happened to her, but you need to look at me and breathe. Just keep saying it to yourself, that she’ll be alright. You might be needed later, so you just need to stay calm, okay?”

Weiss muttered the words to herself over and over again, and Ruby hugged her, holding her head to her chest. “I promise everything will be alright. Winter would want you to be calm, wouldn’t she?”

Weiss nodded, sighing deeply and closing her eyes. “I’m sorry; I know this isn’t like me. It just… It caught me off guard.”

“That’s completely natural. I’m here for you, Weiss. She’ll be okay.” Ruby hugged Weiss tighter. They shared their warmth and love within the embrace, never wanting to let go and leave each other to the cold. Weiss needed Ruby, and Ruby needed Weiss. It was a simple fact that their love could carry them through the toughest mountains and the deepest cliffs. More than ever, Weiss needed Ruby close to her. They needed each other.

Yang watched her two teammates embrace, watched how much love her sister gave to Weiss, and she couldn’t be more grateful to have a better sister. Her focus soon went back to Thetis, who was still standing in silence, waiting for Neo to come out of hiding.

Somehow, everyone knew they needed to stay silent, and no sound came from either team. Pyrrha watched with close eyes, her hand on her blade and ready to protect Thetis if it came to it. The wait for Neo to attack only made everything more intense and utterly terrifying. The rain seemed to pick up, creating only more noise and making it harder for Thetis.

It had to be a solid thirty seconds before Thetis suddenly opened her eyes and swung her large spear behind her, blocking Neo as she came into visibility and attacked. Neo’s eyes went white in shock. _H-How did she block that?! That’s impossible!_

Thetis took advantage of Neo’s surprise to go on the attack. She took her spear apart into halves, one small one for each hand, before swinging at Neo. She got a few good hits in from the side and front, before Neo finally had the opportunity to use her semblance and get out of her. Thetis hit Neo again, and she shattered into glass pieces. Thetis looked around her, closing her eyes, listening out. She then suddenly opened them, put her spear back together, and raised it up high, blocking Neo, who came in charging from the sky.

The two held the lock for a couple of seconds, before Neo’s feet hit the ground and she began sparring with Thetis. The two women swung from the sides, each blocking and parrying the others swing. Neo leaned back to dodge one swing, before wrapping the umbrella handle around Thetis’ wrist, attempting to throw her away. However, Thetis simply gripped onto the umbrella, letting Neo swing her behind her back but keeping the grip on the umbrella as she circled around and shot two feet into Neo’s back, launching the ice cream girl into the ground.

She hit a few times whilst rolling, before slamming into a concrete building, weakening her aura. _This girl is no joke… I need to step up!_

Thetis transformed her double-ended spear into a giant rifle, taking aim and firing at Neo. The girl shattered into glass as she was shot, and Thetis transformed the rifle back into its spear and swung behind her, hitting the idle Neo. However, that Neo also shattered into glass, and Thetis’ eyes widened. Neo suddenly appeared in front of Thetis, launching a kick into the side of her stomach. She attempted to swing her umbrella to hit the woman, but she quickly raised her spear, blocking the blow.

She quickly transformed her weapon into a rifle and shot at Neo, who raised the umbrella to block the shot. Thetis went on the attack, swinging at Neo from side to side, and the ice cream girl started flipping back. Thetis swung from below, and Neo grabbed the weapon, allowing herself to be raised up. Thetis lifted her weapon and Neo into the air, and the ice cream girl attempted to kick Thetis in the stomach again.

However, Thetis simply caught the foot, before throwing Neo and slamming her hard into the concrete, creating a crater where she hit. Neo regained posture, kicking Thetis in the wrist then face, staggering her away. Neo used Thetis’ stagger to go on the attack, launching a quick set of kicks to Thetis’ face, lowering her aura by quite a bit. Thetis grabbed the foot, and Neo kicked at her wrist, before flipping away and gaining some distance between the two of them.

Thetis closed that distance quickly, charging and launching an attack from above, to which Neo blocked as she raised her umbrella and let it take the hit. The two women were engaged in a deep lock, Thetis gaining the advantage as she gritted her teeth and pushed. Neo simply grinned, even though she was losing.

Neo quickly took her umbrella apart, turning them into the familiar pistols, and backed away from Thetis, before firing at her. Thetis, at lightning speed, moved her spear around, blocking each and every shot. She spun her umbrella to block even more shots, before she started swinging her spear at Neo, actually _deflecting_ the shots back at the ice cream girl.

Neo started flipping back, blocking the deflected shots, and barely had time to dodge the incoming spear being directly thrown at her. It scraped her shoulder, hitting her aura. Even though it did some damage, she now knew Thetis was unarmed, which gave her a _huge_ advantage.

Neo charged and swung at Thetis from above, but she simply stood still, not even blocking. All of a sudden, Neo’s umbrella stopped in the air, and she looked up to see a black aura surrounding it. “Good work, Pyrrha!” Thetis called out, and Neo looked over to see Pyrrha using her polarity to control the weapon.

She flung it out of Neo’s hands and into a nearby building, and both women knew they had to get their weapons back. Neo launched a kick at Thetis, hitting her in the stomach, before raising her leg high in the air and smashing it down on the back of Thetis’ head, dazing the woman slightly. Neo took this opportunity to launch a kick at the side of her head, staggering her to the ground. Neo stepped on Thetis’ throat, grinning as she started to press down.

Thetis gagged, but she simply grinned, holding out a hand. Neo raised a brow, before she suddenly felt a huge blow to her back, staggering her forward. She turned around to see Thetis rolling to her feet, her weapon in hand. She soon realized Pyrrha’s polarity had dragged the weapon all the way to Thetis’ hand, and struck Neo from behind in the process.

Thetis stormed towards Neo, but instead of striking her with the spear, Thetis raised a fist, before punching Neo directly in the nose, causing it to explode in pain as some blood flew out. “That one is from Winter!” Thetis growled, much to Weiss’ delight. “And this… Is for what you did to Yang!” She screamed as she raised a foot and kicked Neo directly into the building where her umbrella was. The building crumbled as Neo hit and Thetis watched on, waiting for Neo to come right back out.

Sure enough, she did, flying towards Thetis, who simply raised her large spear to block. Neo started going on the attack, swinging and swiping her weapon at Thetis at extreme speeds. Her semblance wasn’t coming back any time soon, and her aura was surely lower than Thetis’. She needed to put up a good fight.

Neo swung at Thetis’ chest, and dropped to her knees, dodging to the swipe. Neo swipe lower, and Thetis leaned back, her knees and back touching the ground, before she kicked up at Neo, hitting her chin. Thetis flipped, transforming her spear into its familiar rifle and firing at Neo, who quickly unfolded her umbrella, blocking the shot.

The recoil flew Thetis back onto the roof of a nearby building, and Neo jumped onto a sign, swinging herself towards Thetis and taking her umbrella apart and turning them into beautiful pistols. She fired at Thetis midair, who moved her spear around, blocking the shots. Neo landed on the roof where Thetis was, and went on the attack, swinging at Thetis.

Thetis blocked two swipes, before taking apart her spear into halves, and turning those halves into mini rifles, going on the offense. She swung the rifles in circles whilst firing at Neo, who rapidly moved her umbrella around, blocking the shots. Thetis kept on the attack, pushing Neo back to the edge of the building until her heels were hanging off the concrete roof. Thetis held both rifles out at arms lengths, firing each other at the same time, and Neo held out her unfolded umbrella, blocking the shots, but each one was skidding her back.

Thetis put her spear back together, before launching a kick at Neo and sending her flying off the building. Thetis then jumped off, getting behind Neo, before battering her into the building. Neo took the opportunity to wrap her umbrella handle around Thetis’ ankle and send her flying alongside her into the building.

Pyrrha watched as both women went into the window of the store, and it started crumbling. Pyrrha jumped the window of her own store, running towards Thetis, ready to help her out. Suddenly, the sound of a kick echoed to Pyrrha’s ears, and Thetis came rolling out the building, hitting the ground and bouncing.

Thetis threw her weapon ahead of her path, and one of the spear’s ends hit the ground. Thetis’ feet then hit the other end of the spear, slightly skidding it, before she stood atop the mounted weapon. Ruby recognized it was a move Qrow pulled against Tyrian, and she was thoroughly impressed. _They’ve obviously trained together before… They would’ve gotten some moves from each other. I wonder who made up that one?_

Neo came charging out of the building towards Thetis, but Pyrrha blocked the charge, before going on the offense herself. However, since Neo had been fighting such an expertly trained Huntress for some time, Pyrrha was lacking in comparison. Neo grabbed Pyrrha’s spear mid-swing, and threw Pyrrha behind her back, before kicking her away.

Neo saw Thetis swinging at her, and blocked the incoming spear, before summoning the blade from the tip of her umbrella and stabbing it at Thetis’ upper arm. The last of Thetis’ aura took this hit, and it then vanished; now leaving Thetis open for a kill.

However, Thetis got one last hit in, striking Neo in the side of the stomach, before kicking her away and into Pyrrha, who held out a foot. Neo’s back hit Pyrrha’s outstretched leg, severely injuring her back and lowering her own aura.

“Pyrrha, I need to get my aura back up. Keep her busy!” Thetis cried out.

“Got it!” Pyrrha replied, who swung her spear at Neo, whose back was still at Pyrrha’s leg. Neo took the hit, rolling away from Pyrrha. She quickly got to her feet, but wasn’t fast enough to see he incoming flying shield, which directly hit her in the cheek, splitting it and sending her flying into a nearby store.

Pyrrha held out a hand, gaining her shield back. “Neo. I don’t want to kill you. So just run away now before I seriously hurt you.” Pyrrha called out. Neo slowly got up, her entire body aching and her nose and cheek bleeding. She looked at Pyrrha, who stood idly in the middle of the street, a death stare in her eyes. However, despite the injuries, Neo put on an evil grin, returning the stare. _Think you’re so tough with the advantage, huh, red head?_

Neo grabbed her umbrella, unsheathing the blade within. Pyrrha put her guard up, readying her shield and spear for any incoming attacks. “I’m not afraid to cripple you, Neo.” Pyrrha warned. Neo kept that grin up, tilting her head and baring her teeth as she smiled.

_Quite wrong, Miss Nikos. It’s supposed to be that **I’m** not afraid to cripple **YOU!**_ Neo giggled, before using her semblance and disappearing. The fight was long enough to charge her semblance right up and use it against Pyrrha. Thetis’ eyes widened, and she screamed out.

“Pyrrha! Get out of there, _NOW!_ ” She cried, and Pyrrha started backing away, but her path was cut off as Neo suddenly appeared before her, hitting her with the blade three times in the chest at a rapid speed, before kicking her away. Pyrrha’s aura took the hit, and she staggered back at the kick, gritting her teeth as she looked around. Despite how deadly it was, Thetis ran next to Pyrrha, guarding her. “Neo, don’t you _DARE_ touch my daughter!”

Neo’s giggle sounded through the town yet again, and Neo suddenly appear before Thetis, stabbing her blade from above. Thetis raised her weapon to block, but the ice cream girl stopped her swing just before it was blocked, instead going for Thetis’ arm. The blade stabbed right through her upper arm, poking out of her wrist. Thetis cried out in pain, and Neo kicked Thetis in the head, dazing her and staggering her away as she hit the ground.

Pyrrha swung at Neo, and she blocked with her blade. Pyrrha got a small combo up with her spear and rifle, all of which Neo blocked, before one hit turned her into shattered glass yet again. Neo didn’t wait any more, she started rapidly hitting Pyrrha from all sides, vanishing and appearing in between each hit. Pyrrha cried out in pain with each shot, and soon enough, Nora and Ren had jumped in to stop it.

Before they could even get close to Pyrrha, Neo suddenly appeared before them, two pistols in hand. She fired at both of them, their auras taking the hits but still doing some damage. It gave Pyrrha a few short seconds of some breathing room, and she winced as she looked up to everyone. “Don’t… Don’t come closer… She’ll… She’ll kill you… Don’t… Do that… For my sake…”

Neo then started attacking Pyrrha yet again, and soon enough, her aura was down. Neo suddenly appeared, before slashing at the side of Pyrrha’s stomach, creating a deep but small stab wound. Pyrrha cried out in pain yet again, the wound immediately leaking blood, before Neo kneed Pyrrha in the face, putting her on her back. She tried to get up, but the pain in her stomach was too great and it stung her every time she tried.

Neo raised the blade up in the air, aiming directly for Pyrrha’s throat. _How ironic… Dying twice must be such an inconvenience. And in no less than a year? This must be cruel for her… Not to worry, red head. At least this time, your friends will be joining you._ She put on a full teeth smile, raising the blade higher. Thetis looked up just in time to see the whole scene. It was as if her whole world had shut down, and she lost all feelings in her legs. As much as she tried, she could barely move.

However, as soon as Neo stabbed down, someone immediately ran in front of her path, taking the hit to their aura. Neo staggered back, looking to see whoever it was that just took the hit. Pyrrha’s eyes immediately widened and her jaw dropped in utter horror as Neo laid eyes on _him…_

“J-Jaune!” Pyrrha cried out. Jaune slowly got up from the hit, his sword and shield drawn and ready.

“ _LEAVE HER ALONE!_ ” He screamed. Pyrrha tried to get up and use her polarity to push Jaune away, but she was just too weak. Her stomach was still leaking blood. Neo tilted her head, smiling at her new target. The look on Pyrrha’s face was enough to communicate that she loved this man.

_And I know for a fact that killing someone they love is worse than killing them…_ Neo grinned, slowly walking towards Jaune instead of finishing Pyrrha off.

“Jaune! Go! S-She’ll ki-… She’ll hurt you! Please!” Pyrrha cried, before launching into a coughing fit as she slowly got on all fours, a hand on her stomach. “Please, Jaune! _RUN!_ ”

“I’ve let everyone take the blows for me for too long…” Jaune growled, striking at Neo, which she blocked and parried, pushing him away. “Pyrrha, this time, I’m defending you! Let me do this, please! You trained me!”

“Jaune… Please, just _RUN!_ I swear I’ll be fine-“

“ _I WON’T LET YOU DIE AGAIN, PYRRHA!”_ Jaune screamed at the red haired girl, who now had tears streaking down her cheeks, her eyes as wide as golf balls. Her jaw shuddered in silence as she had no response to what Jaune just said. Looking at Pyrrha didn’t prepare Jaune for another incoming blow from Neo, and he staggered, before Neo launched a combo on his head and kicked him in the stomach to finish it.

“Mom, stop her! Please!” Pyrrha cried out, and Thetis immediately charged at Neo. Ruby joined in on the charge, and Neo immediately took apart her blade, turning it into pistols and firing at the two, who held up their weapons to block. Neo disappeared, before appearing behind Ruby and wrapping the blade around her neck. She then threw Ruby towards one of the stores, creating a crater in the wall where she hit and immediately taking down her aura.

Neo then disappeared and appeared behind Thetis, swinging at her ankles. Thetis blocked the swing, but Neo then shattered into glass, before appearing in front of Thetis. Her aura was still down, making it easy to swing at her bicep and cut through. Thetis cried out in pain as the blade hit the bone, and Neo kicked the Huntress away, slicing it as she staggered back. _I’ll kill you later… Take away everything red head loves before I burn her._

Pyrrha could barely hold back her cries, but then, Neo suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Jaune, striking him. Pyrrha pushed through all the pain, grabbing her spear with her bloody hand and marking it, before screaming as she charged at Neo. All it took was Neo to shoot back her leg and kick Pyrrha right in the stomach for her to cough up some blood and go on to all fours again. Jaune cried out in rage when Neo did this, swinging as hard as he could at the ice cream girl, but it just wasn’t enough. Neo didn’t even need to disappear, she was taking Jaune easily.

Pyrrha looked behind her to see just about everyone charging in for a fight, and Neo noticed this as well. Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora and Ren were about to attack, and with Neo’s aura down, it could prove to be a problem for her. She flipped back, landing on hands then feet, making her way to a dust shop. She kicked down the door, grabbing a bunch of fire crystals, throwing them at the group.

She summoned her blade into two pistols, firing them at the dust crystals and blowing them up right in the group, blowing everyone back, and taking down _all_ of their auras. _Now nobody is safe… This is going to be **too** easy._

Neo went to attack Jaune again, since he was the only one that still had his aura up. She hit him a few more times, delivering hard hits in between each combo, and try as he might, there was no way Jaune could counter the utter speed Neo was going at.

Pyrrha eventually got up, despite the intensifying pain. She looked up, only to see Neo deliver one last combo to Jaune lowering his aura, before kicking him away. He kept his balance, looking up to Pyrrha, who had tears in her eyes as she shook her head. “Please… Stop…”

Jaune responded not with more tears or more screaming, but instead, with a _smile._ “The tables have turned, huh, Pyrrha?” He chuckled, his nose bleeding and his brow split. He also had multiple bruises and a cut along the stomach, tearing his hoodie and showing his bleeding stomach. “I’m sorry, Pyrrha… But this is to protect you.”

Pyrrha just kept shaking her head, but Jaune saw Neo slowly walking towards him, and although he planned to kiss her, he knew he had no time left. He had to protect Pyrrha with the last of his life. He turned to face Neo, before looking over his shoulder and muttering his last words…

“I love you… Pyrrha Nikos.”

What came next was the sound of metal clanging against metal as Jaune struck from above, Neo easily blocking. Pyrrha took a step, but immediately dropped to her knees. Her tears mixing with her blood, creating a red liquid that streaked down her cheek and hit the cold, cold concrete. She wanted to look away, but Jaune wouldn’t want that. Everyone was just too weak to fight, too weak to save him…

Pyrrha watched as Neo blocked a swing of Jaune’s blade with her boot, before kicking the sword away, moving the shield with the same leg, and thrusting her blade forward, into Jaune’s chest and straight through his heart.

Jaune’s eyes widened as the blade stabbed through him, and he slightly gagged. He looked up to see Neo grinning wildly in his face, and that was the last thing he ever saw. Not Pyrrha’s beautiful smile or the team he had led for nearly a year…

No. All he saw was the evil, satisfied smile of a psychotic murderer. Neo pulled the blade out of his chest, and he hit the concrete with his knees, before eventually, falling forward, blood pouring from his stab wound. Fresh tears streamed from Pyrrha’s eyes, and she didn’t even have the energy to scream. All she could do is quietly sob, crawling to Jaune, turning him over onto his back to face her, his eyes wide and white like snow.

Jaune Arc was dead.

Thetis felt utter guilt for not being able to save him. Ruby felt the tears build up. Nora was loudly howling and sobbing at his corpse. Ren looked away, keeping silent as he cried. Yang and Blake didn’t even know how to react, and Weiss felt horrible at how she had treated him when he was alive. But nothing compared to what Pyrrha felt.

“Jaune…?” Pyrrha whispered, holding the back of his head with one hand and another placed over his stab wound. “Jaune… Can you hear me? I-It’s me… It’s Pyrrha…” Pyrrha’s bloody tears fell on his face, and her lips started to quiver. “I’m supposed to be dead, Jaune… I’m supposed to be dead, not you… _I_ was supposed to protect you… Jaune, wake up… Please, for the love of god wake up, I love you, please… Please, I can’t lose you… I didn’t come all this way to lose you…”

Pyrrha quietly sobbed into Jaune’s chest, and Neo just watched her. It was similar to how she felt when she had lost Roman. And only for a second, as she watched Pyrrha’s hope and happiness tear away from her, only for a second did Neo feel like an utter monster. But she simply closed her eyes, reminding herself of what she was doing this for.

_Roman would’ve wanted this… Roman would’ve wanted this…_

She barely had time to react to Blake charging and swinging at her, but unfortunately, Neo’s aura was back up and it took the hit. She skidded back, smirking at the cat girl. “Take me next. I won’t lose.” Blake growled, and Neo’s smile grew wider. She suddenly flashed away, and Blake looked around to see the umbrella was gone. She looked outside the walls to see Neo, the umbrella now covering the blade, as she stood in the forest, waving a finger to the Faunus.

“She’s mine.” Blake growled as she started charging towards Neo.

“Blake, wait!” Yang cried out as she went after Blake. She slowed down next to Pyrrha and Jaune, looking down at them. She closed her eyes, whispering to Pyrrha. “I’m sorry…”

Yang took off after Blake as Pyrrha held Jaune’s corpse close to her. She didn’t want this to be real; she wanted this to be some terrible, cruel nightmare. She wanted to wake up and restart the day, now in Jaune’s arms. But life wasn’t so forgiving to her. It had a sick, cruel way of treating her.

Pyrrha never even got to kiss him before he passed…

* * *

 

“Blake?! Where are you?!” Yang called out, running through the forest looking for her. It was an endless maze of trees and bushes, only the sounds of combat being Yang’s guide. _I can’t let what happened to Blake happen to Yang! I’ve gotta get there, NOW!_

Yang pushed past a few bushes, and instead of coming to Blake, she was instead now face-to-face with a Beowulf. She flipped back as it slashed; well aware her aura was still down. “Y-Yang! Help me!” Blake’s cries echoed on the other side of the Beowulf. Yang then realized there was a swarm of Ursa and Beowulf’s blocking her from reaching Blake. Yang stepped back as they all spotted her, but she suddenly stepped on something hard and metal.

She looked down to see Blake’s Gambol Shroud, and her eyes widened. _S-She’s fighting without a weapon?!_ Yang immediately picked up Blake’s weapon, holding it in her hands as the swarm of Grimm closed in. She knew what she had to do to get through them.

_Just hang on, Blake… I’m coming._

Yang pushed forward, and as the first Beowulf swiped, she ducked, swinging with Blake’s weapon and decapitating the creature. She threw the blade at an Ursa, sinking it into its neck, before tugging it forward and stabbing it straight through the chest with the cleaver part. The creature fell forward onto Yang, and she slightly leaned back at the weight, before shrugging it off and moving forward.

Three more Beowulf’s approached, and Yang held out the pistol of the Gambol Shroud, firing it and hitting all three of them directly in the head. She swung the blade at the Creep behind her, killing it immediately. She kept pushing forward, going faster to save Blake.

A pack of Beowulf’s charged from within the bushes, and Yang activated her Ember Celica’s, punching all of them with one hit and launching them away. She finally got close to where Blake and Neo were, and saw Neo was easily dominating Blake without a weapon.

Blake’s shoulder had been dislocated, and her entire body was covered in cuts, one of her cat ears cut in half horizontally. She had blood dribbling from her nose and the cuts, and there was no doubt internal injuries were going to be a big factor to her fighting. Yang ran from behind as silently as possibly, swiping at Neo with the Gambol Shroud’s and hitting her, staggering Neo as she turned to face Yang, their eyes locking and sending chills down Yang’s spine.

“Blake, catch.” Yang said as she threw the weapons to Blake. “How are you? I’m glad I caught you before she could do anything worse.”

“I’m pretty messed up… But I can still move.” Blake grunted as she got up, her familiar weapons in hand. Neo couldn’t help but giggle at the little adorable reunion, and how much she was going to _crush_ it. Blake swung first, but Neo simply blocked and shot out a foot, hitting Blake in the stomach and directly in one of her kidneys. She spun, her heel striking the side of Blake’s neck and choking her as she hit the ground.

Yang tried to punch with her right arm, but Neo simply ducked the blow, spinning and swiping with her blade, cutting through the biotic arm and severing it off again. Yang staggered back, her eyes widening at the sudden move. Blake got a slight boost of rage to attack Neo at this move, but it did her no good as Neo simply spun and sunk her blade into Blake’s thigh, stabbing it and crippling her. Blake grunted in pain, and Neo kicked her away, before moving on to Yang.

Neo kicked Yang in the face five times in a row, before kicking her into a tree, her back hitting it and winding her. Neo threw her blade like a spear, and it impaled Yang straight through her left arm, stabbing straight through the wrist and pinning her to the tree, meaning she had no ways to fight back except her legs. Neo quickly disposed of that option by kicking at both kneecaps, dislocating them and causing Yang to scream out in pain.

Neo leaned back, kicking Yang in the jaw, before kicking her in the kidney yet again. She then charged up a powerful kick, before launching it straight into Yang’s ribs, breaking a few of them. Yang immediately coughed out some blood, dizziness and confusion overtaking her world. _Is… Is this how I die?_

Neo took the blade out of Yang’s wrist, and the blonde immediately fell to the ground, landing on all fours. Neo grabbed Yang by the hair, raising her up to Neo’s eye level. She gave Yang an evil glare, with a sickening smile to go with it. Yang returned the gesture by spitting blood directly onto Neo’s face. “Go ahead, Neo…” Yang croaked. “Kill me… Just know… Ruby will know… Blake and Qrow and my dad will know… They’ll come for you…” Yang then grinned. “And they won’t show any _fucking_ mercy.”

Neo returned that by smashing her forehead against Yang’s, before throwing her over to the other end of the small space of the forest.  Neo slowly approached Yang, blade in hand, ready to kill her. Blake noticed this, and her eyes widened with horror. _Yang… I can’t let you die! Not like this!_

With the last of strength, Blake threw herself in front of Yang, protecting her, just like she did with Adam. “Neo… You can take my arms… My legs… My life… I don’t care…” Blake coughed, her death stare returning as she then screamed. “But as long as I’m alive, I won’t let you take _MY YANG!_ ”

Yang could barely fathom what Blake was doing, and the sacrifice she was making. “B-Blake… Don’t be stupid, she’ll… Kill you…”

“I don’t care. But I am not going to watch you die, Yang. I’m keeping the damn promises I made.” Blake growled. “Yang, no matter what happens, just know that I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you. I’ll always be with you, Yang. I swear.” Blake sobbed, tears now fresh in her eyes, which caused Yang to start crying herself. _Blake… Just run… Please…_

Neo looked at Yang, slightly grinning as she knew she had found her next target, before lining up the blade with Blake’s chest. She grabbed the Faunus by the hair, raising her up and holding her still as the blade lined up with the center of her chest… Blake looked Neo in the eye, and she returned the gaze. Yang desperately wanted to break and save her, but she had no strength. She couldn’t.

Blake coughed and slightly jolted, and those were her last actions as Neo thrusted the blade forward, the blade going straight through Blake’s chest. She gagged, struggling to breath, trying to get a few small breaths in but failing. Yang’s eyes widened in horror as the other end of the blade leaked with Blake’s blood. Blake felt her vision fading away, and before everything went black, she made her last thoughts…

_Yang… Thank you for everything…_

Blake’s body then went limp, and Neo pulled the blade out of her. Yang used what little strength she had to lie next to Blake’s body, which was facing up. Unlike Jaune, Blake’s eyes were closed. Yang’s lips quivered and fresh tears streamed down her face, going sideways since she was lying down. “Blake… Blake, no, no… Blake, I’m sorry… Please don’t leave me, I… I can’t bare it without you, it’s… It’s so cold… Blake, I love you, please wake up… No…”

Yang curled up into a ball, sobbing and howling uncontrollably, each sound hurting Yang’s ribs even more. “It should’ve been me… It should’ve been me…”

Neo grabbed Yang by the hair, pulling her up and facing her. Instead of the death stare she was met with earlier, she was instead met with Yang’s narrow eyes and wobbling lips, tear streaks going sideways on her face and blood mixing with the liquid. It was almost a tear-jerking sight for Neo, but she ignored it, holding her blade to Yang’s chest, ready to give Yang’s life away so she could join Blake.

However, Neo was soon interrupted as another girl came from the bushes, knocking Neo’s blade away. Neo looked up to see Ruby, her clothes fluttering with the wind and her hair wet from the rain. Her Crescent Rose in hand and a death stare from her silver eyes.

“Weiss, Ren, Nora. Get Blake and Yang to the Mistral hospital.” Ruby ordered, and Neo saw the three emerge from the bushes, picking up the girls carefully, and Weiss taking Yang’s chopped arm. Blake’s body laid limp and Yang’s was crying, her hand locked with Blake’s. Neo went to approach them, but Ruby held her scythe before her path. “You want me, don’t you, Neo?”

Neo’s glare locked with Ruby’s. _You were the one who took my Roman away from me…_ Neo’s body straightened with Ruby’s, grabbing her umbrella and sheathing her blade within it. “Good. This fight is between us now. If I beat you, you leave my friends alone, okay?”

Neo nodded, a smirk forming on her face. Ruby’s aura was back up, but Neo knew there was no way Ruby could take her. Neo tilted her head, smiling.

She had found her next target.


	11. One Single Bullet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains self-harm/suicide triggers.

Ruby and Neo stood still, waiting for the other to make a move as the rain started to pick up. The rain soaked into their hair and clothes as it started to pick up. Ruby’s grip tightened on her weapon as they circled around each other, their eyes never leaving the lock between them.

_This is the bitch that killed my Roman… Her aura would be back up by now, but it should be no matter._ Neo stood still, and Rub followed the action, her heartbeat increasing even more by the second. Neo had obviously grown stronger in the last many months. After running scared from Raven, she knew she’d need to become stronger in order to face opponents like Thetis and Winter. She even disposed of Qrow without fighting him, greatly suiting her needs. Ruby was but a mere speck to what they were.

“I saw what you did to Blake… And I saw what you were going to do to my sister.” Ruby spoke, Neo’s smirk returning at those words in order to taunt her into attacking. However, it didn’t work on the red girl, much to her disappointment. “Neo… We don’t have to fight. No more victims have to come of this. I just need to say some things to you. Set you on the right path and make sure no more bloodshed comes out of this!”

Neo’s smirk disappeared and her death stare returned, sending chills down Ruby’s spine. She pushed through, speaking. “I know you lost Roman. I know how loss feels. I lost someone that night that I loved as well, Neo. She wasn’t even human…” Ruby looked down at the floor, some tears coming to her eyes, before looking back up, shedding them. “But she was human to me, and that’s all that matters! I know how you felt. I wanted to destroy everything and just bring down skyscrapers; I wanted to do a lot of things that weren’t right… The only difference between you and me is that I held back, and you let loose.”

Neo’s death stare didn’t disappear, and Ruby kept speaking. “Neo… I am so, so, _so_ sorry about Roman, I really am. But you have to believe me…” Ruby placed a hand on her chest, swearing to Neo. “ _I_ didn’t kill him.”

Neo’s eyes suddenly grew wide with rage. _LIAR!_ She screamed internally as she charged forward. Ruby held out her scythe, blocking the swing, before jumping up and using the sniper’s recoil to launch herself away. She hit the wet ground, pleadingly looking into Neo’s eyes.

“Neo, please! I’m not lying to you, I swear on my mother’s grave!” Ruby pleaded, but Neo didn’t hold back, her eyes stinging with rage and her whole body overcome with the same feeling. She couldn’t use her semblance yet but by _god_ , as soon as she got it, she’ll be _massacring_ this little red _bitch._

She took her umbrella apart and fired the pistols at Ruby, who held out her scythe, blocking. Neo didn’t hold back, she continued firing, moving closer towards Ruby. Neo’s teeth were grit in utter anger as she kept going, before she put her umbrella back together again and spun, striking from the side. Ruby blocked, shooting out a leg and hitting Neo in the stomach. Neo grabbed the leg, swinging Ruby over her shoulder and smashing her into the mud.

Neo stabbed down onto Ruby, but she rolled out of the way, getting back up. “I know what you’re feeling, Neo! I know this anger! But please, just stop fighting! I don’t want to hurt you!”

Neo froze, her lips forming into a wicked smile. _Hurt **me?!** I think you’re mistaken; I am mostly certainly going to hurt **you!**_ Neo sped forward, putting on a gruesome combo, but Ruby was fast with her scythe and blocked all the blows, before swinging and knocking Neo away. She hit a faraway tree, coughing as she was winded. _Huh?! How did she block that?_

“Neo… I know what you’re thinking. You think you can take me. And in any normal situation, you could, and easily… But right now, you have one major weakness. If you stop fighting, I won’t have to exploit it to beat you.” Ruby’s voice was definitely signifying that she did _not_ want to do what she was thinking. She wanted to calm the ice cream girl down and explain some things. But Neo was in a state of mind where sanity was out of the question.

It wasn’t fully charged yet, but Neo used her semblance, vanishing and blending in with the environment. She ran behind Ruby, ready to strike, but Ruby simply spun her scythe, striking Neo and knocking her away. Neo kept her footing this time, but she was utterly confused as to how Ruby could see her out of all people. “Your footprints are shown in the mud; I can easily track you like that! In your normal state, you wouldn’t make a mistake like that! Please, just listen to me!”

_She’s fucking **taunting** me, isn’t she?! Did you taunt Roman in his final moments, too?! DIE, YOU **BITCH!**_ Neo held nothing back as she went on a combo with her umbrella and legs, striking and kicking at Ruby, but she spun her scythe around, yet again dodging and blocking every single hit. _How the hell can she do this! This is impossible!_

Ruby kicked Neo away yet again. She closed her eyes, sighing. She had to take it to the extreme, and Ruby didn’t want to do that, but Neo wouldn’t stop until she was surely beaten. She cried out. “Neo, you must realize now, you’re being too predictable! This isn’t like you! Do you think Roman would want this?!”

Neo heard those words, and her anger reached its absolute peak. She charged, full speed, swinging from above, to which Ruby planned to block. But Neo quickly used her speed to swipe her legs, hooking it around Ruby’s ankle, tripping her. Neo swung down her umbrella, hitting Ruby in the head and actually lowering her aura in an instant. Neo giggled at the action. _I hit her… I took down her weak aura in one hit… Take that, you utter-_

Neo was cut off as Ruby used her semblance to flash behind Neo, before unleashing a brutal combo on Neo. She held nothing back with her scythe as she hit Neo five times, before launching her into the air and kicking her into a nearby tree. Ruby shot behind her, launching herself at Neo, holding out a leg, before hitting Neo straight in the stomach, winding her severely. Ruby spun her scythe, hitting Neo in the back and straight into the ground, taking her aura down.

Neo’s eyes were wide with shock at how easily she was taken down. _H-How…? I took everyone down easily, b-but… If she could kill Roman, how powerful is she?_ Neo turned around to see Ruby place her scythe in the mud, done with the fighting. “Neo. You let your anger and emotions get in the way of your flawless skill. That was your major weakness. And I’m sorry I had to exploit it… Like that. But now, I just want to tell you the sole truth. Then we can go our separate ways… And no one else gets hurt. Ok?”

_My anger… This is the first time I’ve let emotions get in the way of fighting… Roman must be so disappointed with me right now… I’m such an idiot…_ Neo sat, her arms behind her back holding her chest up as she looked at the floor. _I’m sorry I couldn’t beat her, Roman… I’m sorry I was so useless… All of this for nothing… I’m just good for nothing…_

Ruby watched tears started to streak down Neo’s cheeks and quiet sobs were choked out from her tight throat. Ruby felt nothing but guilt for exploiting Neo like that, but it had to be done. Ruby would die otherwise. “You know of that weakness now, and you can work yourself to overcome it so you can face your true enemy: Cinder.”

Neo looked up to Ruby, tears in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, but she was interested. “When I was fighting Roman, he had beaten me. He was probably going to kill me, but… A Grimm killed him. It ate him and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. It was never my intention to kill Roman, and I didn’t want what happened to him to happen. But… Roman would still be alive if it weren’t for Cinder.”

_A Grimm? Seriously, Roman? You’re not gonna hear the end of that when I see you…_ Neo slightly smiled as she looked down, the tears still streaking. “If Cinder didn’t cause widespread panic and attract the Grimm, none of this would have happened. Roman would still be alive. She was the sole one responsible for everyone that died that night. Neo… I know you’re probably going to try to kill her right away, but… You just need to know that me and my friends never wanted Roman dead. We have a much greater threat before us. We need to focus on them first. And then… Everything will be okay.”

Neo’s eyes and mouth were agape at the explanation of all of this. All of this had to be truth, it all made sense to her. _But… What’s the point in killing Cinder if it won’t give me my Roman back? What is the point of any of this?_ Neo sighed deeply, and Ruby stretched out her right hand in an offer to help Neo up. “We can end this, Neo. You can trust us.”

Neo looked at the hand before her, and she was hesitant at first. But she knew that Ruby was right. She had committed all these pointless attacks and murders for nothing. She was truly a monster. She was the biggest monster in the world. _I don’t even deserve this hand… I don’t deserve this life… This monster has killed all these innocent children…_

_And the only one that can kill this monster… Is **me.**_

* * *

 

Nora and Ren emerged from the forest and into Mistral, Ren carrying Yang and Nora holding Blake’s limp body. Pyrrha was sitting; Jaune’s head rested on her lap, her eyes still stinging red but the tears had stopped flowing. She brushed Jaune’s hair slightly, the apologies flowing from her lips, never ending. Weiss had Yang’s bionic arm in her hands, and she placed it gently on the floor, whilst Ren and Nora laid Yang and Blake down before Thetis.

“Good. Thank you for getting them.” Thetis kneeled down, looking to see Yang, still sobbing, her eyes stinging red and her sobs still erupting. “You look pretty beaten up… What did she do to you?” Thetis asked. Yang looked to Blake, her thumb stroking the Faunus’ cold palm.

“My kneecaps are dislocated and I know have some broken ribs… There’s gotta be more than that… But it’s not _me_ you should be worrying about… I don’t deserve your pity…” Yang sobbed. All eyes went to Blake, and Thetis placed two fingers to Blake’s neck, her eyes widening and her breath going cold as she suddenly gasped. She was frozen for some time, before she slowly looked down to the floor.

“She’s gone… I’m sorry…” Thetis shuddered, sending chills down Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and especially Weiss. “But… There’s a reason I bought her back here. I’m sure you remember my semblance, don’t you?”

Yang’s eyes went wide at the sudden realization, and a wide smile erupted on her face, her tears had finally stopped. She wiped away the remaining few. “Y-You can bring her back! Thetis, thank you so much, I’ll be eternally grateful for-“

“I wouldn’t start getting your hopes up yet…” Thetis silenced Yang. Pyrrha looked in confusion to her mother as her head slightly dropped.

“Mom? What’s the matter?” Pyrrha asked. Thetis looked up to her daughter, her green eyes staring back at her own, sharing the same color. It was clear that although Jaune’s death deeply wounded Pyrrha, she was hanging on to the hope Thetis would bring her back. That just broke her heart even more.

“Pyrrha… There was something I never told you about my semblance…” Thetis spoke softly. She swallowed the lump in her throat away, and stood up, drawing her spear from her back. She slowly walked over to Pyrrha, spear in hand, and held out the handle to the young Huntress. “This… Is yours now, Pyrrha.”

“W-Why?” Pyrrha asked. Thetis closed her eyes, looking over to Blake, before slowly turning her head to face Jaune. She sighed, closing her eyes fully.

“Because this is my last stop.”

The rain seemed to pick up as those words hung in the air, Pyrrha’s eyes widening and then staying that size, her mouth slowly opening, but only just slightly. Nora and Ren didn’t even know what to say, and Yang and Weiss kept their silence. “M-Mom… Are you saying…”

“Pyrrha, my semblance has a severe handicap to it.” Thetis explained. “If I am to revive someone that is not directly linked to my bloodline… I risk the chance of death. It’s a slim chance… When it’s just one person. When it’s two…” Thetis’ first tear dropped. “It’s a near certainty.”

Pyrrha started shaking her head, slowly, before it picked up. “No… No, no, no, that’s not… No, you… No…”

“It… It doesn’t stop there.” Thetis choked out. Pyrrha’s tears started to pick up again, as did Thetis’. “Not only will I kill myself in the process… It’s an _extremely_ slim chance I’ll bring both of them back. I could bring one back or none at all… But it’s a low chance both of them will come back to life.”

Pyrrha could barely even more or breathe, and Yang felt her hope slivering away. Weiss’ eyes widened, and Nora slowly covered her mouth with her hand. “Mom… There’s got to be a way-“

“There is no other way, Pyrrha!” Thetis sternly spoke, slightly scaring Pyrrha. “This is the way it has to be… I have reached the end of my time. Tonight, I lost to Neo. My age is obviously getting the better of me… And I sincerely doubt Neo is the strongest fighter in the world. I couldn’t even protect you from harm… What good of a mother am I, if I can’t do that?”

“Don’t say that! You were always there for me no matter how dark or depressing things got, you stuck by my side! Even when dad did all those horrible things to me, you put me first before anyone else, and I will always be thankful to have you! I could never ask for a better mother in my whole life! So please, don’t leave me! Dad already left, and I don’t want you joining him! Without Jaune, you’re _all I have left!_ Without both of you… What reason do I have to go on?!” Pyrrha screamed, before launching into a series of ugly sobs and cries, her hands clawing at the ground and her head pounding. Thetis felt nothing but guilt and horror at the sight. _Pyrrha has been through so much… And I hate myself for making things worse… But there is no other way…_

Thetis knelt down before her daughter, and Pyrrha immediately flung herself at her chest, holding her and sobbing uncontrollably. Thetis returned the hug, holding Pyrrha as tight as she had ever held her. “Shhh, shhh…” Thetis rubbed circles around Pyrrha’s back, much like she used to do when she was younger. Thetis separated from Pyrrha, holding her shoulders and wiping tears from her cheeks. “Pyrrha… You have a choice before you. Do you want me to take the risk… Or not?”

Pyrrha looked down to the deceased Jaune, before looking over to Yang. Yang and Pyrrha made eye contact, and she knew what she was asking. Yang looked over to Blake, and inhaled a sharp breath. “Pyrrha… I am in no position to tell you what to do… So take my words with a grain of salt if you have to, but I’ll be honest…” Yang spoke, before another tear was shed. “But I can’t imagine a world without Blake, and I’m sure you can’t imagine a world without Jaune. If we don’t try this now… We may never know if they could’ve came back at this moment… And that burden will haunt us for the rest of our lives.”

Pyrrha and Yang kept their eye contact for some time after Yang had spoken, and that speech was enough for Pyrrha to make up her mind. She looked to Thetis, and slowly, she nodded. “Mom… I’m so sorry… But please… I want to take the risk.”

Thetis smiled, sniffling and rubbing her daughter’s cheek. “Somehow, I knew that would be your answer… If that’s your wish, Pyrrha… Then it’s my motherly duty to obey it. One last time…” Thetis saw that Pyrrha was starting to choke up again, and she placed a kiss on her forehead, before slowly trying to calm Pyrrha down with a song. When she was young, Thetis used to sing to Pyrrha when she was upset, usually due to her father. Hopefully, it’d still work now.

“ _I never felt that it was wise to wish too much…_ ” Thetis started, and Pyrrha’s sobs started to choke out as Thetis said those words. She picked Jaune up and placed him next to Blake. “ _To dream too big would only lead to being crushed…”_

Thetis slowly helped Pyrrha up to her feet, looking her in the eyes and smiling as Pyrrha’s endless tears flowed. Nora buried her face into Ren’s chest, her loud sobs echoing throughout the city, and even Weiss felt a few tears build up. _“When I met you, you weren’t afraid of anything…”_ Thetis continued.

“ _You taught me how to leave the ground and use my wings..._ ” Thetis kept singing as she clapped both her hands together, and both Jaune and Blake glowed a bright gold, matching Thetis’ hands. “ _I never thought a hero would ever come my way…_ ”

Thetis looked to Pyrrha, who could only barely watch. “ _But more than that, I’d never thought you’d be taken away…_ ”

“Mom… I always loved you so, so much… And I always will… Thank you for this life, and thank you for everything you have done for me…” Pyrrha said her final words to Thetis. Thetis knew this was her last chance to say something to her daughter. She thought for a second, before smiling, tears in her eyes, as she turned towards Pyrrha, and said her last four words.

“I’m proud of you.”

With those words, Thetis closed her eyes, focusing as her energy built up. The Earth shook as Thetis’ hand glowed brighter, and Pyrrha and Blake were brighter than the sun. Everyone looked away as the light was too much, before it suddenly exploded, shooting everyone back. Pyrrha flew back, hitting the ground, groaning as she slowly got up. She found Blake and Jaune’s glowing light to be fading, and she found Thetis sitting before them, giving her some hope she had survived.

That hope then flashed away as Thetis Nikos started to disintegrate from feet to head. Pyrrha ran over to her, kneeling besides her, an arm around her back, grasping her hand. Thetis looked up to Pyrrha as her legs swept away into ash with the wind, and she felt her last tear drop as she smiled as bright as she could towards Pyrrha.

Then, her stomach and hand swept away, then her chest, until finally, before Pyrrha’s eyes, her head was gone and blown away into the wind. And with that, Thetis was gone.

Thetis Nikos was gone...

Pyrrha swiped her hand at the air, trying to catch some of Thetis’ ashes, but her attempts were futile. She sniffled, still trying to catch something, but it all just disintegrated away before her very eyes. Pyrrha grit her teeth, trying her best not to cry. She looked up to see her spear had been left behind, and she leapt at it, clutching it. Pyrrha’s tears started to build up, and she held the spear close to herself, finishing the last song Thetis started.

“ _Now it’s cold without you here…_ ” Pyrrha choked out as she held the spear close to her chest. “ _It’s like winter lasts all year…_ ”

Pyrrha looked up to the dark, rainy sky. She then remembered the last line of the song, and slowly, her tears evaporated. “ _But your star’s still in the sky… So I won’t say goodbye…_ ”

Pyrrha looked down at the spear, spinning it in her hand, sniffling, before smiling and finishing the beautiful piece. “ _I don’t have to say goodbye…_ ”

“Ugh… W-What happened?” A male voice sounded. Pyrrha gasped, dropping the spear and looking up to see Jaune clutching his head, sitting up. Pyrrha locked eyes with Jaune, and in that instant, Jaune remembered exactly what had happened. He was killed by Neo in an act of protecting Pyrrha, but Thetis must’ve bought him back. Pyrrha’s jaw shuddered. “Pyrrha… I-I’m okay…”

“Jaune…” Pyrrha choked out, before a huge smile erupted on her face and she leapt at Jaune, tackling him into the ground and hugging him. “Oh, Jaune! _Jaune!_ ” Pyrrha sobbed happily, lying on top of him as he returned the embrace. She leaned up, looking down at him.

Wasting no time whatsoever, she lowered herself down, immediately pushing her lips against his, kissing him, finally. Jaune immediately wrapped both arms around her back, returning the kiss and bringing her closer. Pyrrha placed a hand upon on his cheek, pulling away from the kiss slightly before going back almost immediately.

Yang watched the two reunite, and looked down to Blake, whose eyes were still closed. “Your turn, Blake… I’m right here, please wake up…” Yang whispered as she lowered herself down, kissing Blake on the lips in a hope to wake her up.

It was a success as Yang felt breath return to Blake and her arm wrap around her. Yang tore away from Blake, looking down as Blake’s eyes locked with her. “B-Blake! You’re okay!”

“I can’t say the same about you…” Blake choked out, looking at Yang. She quickly deciphered Thetis had resurrected her, and she knew how Yang must be feeling. “Yang… I am so sorry I did that… I was only trying to protect you from her.”

Yang placed a finger against Blake’s lips. “Shut up and love me, you son of a bitch.”

As Yang kissed Blake again, Nora couldn’t help but place a kiss of her own on Ren’s cheek. “Thanks… For not dying. I don’t think I can handle any more of this stress!” Nora cried. Ren slightly chuckled, before hugging Nora, comforting her after the obvious emotional scarring.

Weiss felt tears of happiness streak down her cheeks at all the sights before her, but she hadn’t forgotten about the one girl she loved that was still out there. “Everyone, Ruby is still out there with Neo! I’m going to get her! If Qrow comes, tell him where we are!” Weiss called out.

“Please make sure she’s safe, Weiss… I can’t lose anyone else I love today.” Yang choked. Weiss nodded, before running into the forest, drawing her weapon. _Ruby… You better be okay! No more dying is allowed for the **rest of the year!**_

* * *

 

“We can end this, Neo. You can trust us.”

Ruby’s outstretched hand was still before Neo’s eyes, and in her mind, she was contemplating. Her aura was down, and she still had her weapon in hand. _I can’t let this monster kill anyone else… She’s caused enough death for tonight and if I don’t deal with her, then someone else will. Why are you helping this monster, Ruby Rose? What has she done to deserve your forgiveness?_

Neo had to end this monster, but it still lusted for blood. Neo slowly started reaching out her own hand, starting to accept Ruby’s help, to which she smiled at. _This monster, it’s still there, it’s still inside of me… And you’re helping it when it’s weak? You’re stupider than I thought, Ruby Rose… But you’re also nicer… The monster loves to kill nice people. Don’t you know anything?_

Neo’s fingertips brushed with Ruby’s, and the red girl clasped her hand on Neo’s. _You’ve made the ultimate mistake, Ruby… Now you pay the consequence for it… From here on out, maybe you’ll learn the lesson I did so many years ago…_

_Don’t help monsters… Because they take everything away from you._

Neo then grabbed her umbrella, unsheathing the blade from within, and before Ruby had time to react, she thrusted it forward, impaling Ruby straight through the stomach. Ruby’s silver eyes grew wide and she gasped, slowly looking down at the blade in her. Neo didn’t even dare to look up to Ruby as she kept the blade in.

_The monster… Has struck for the last time._

“W-W…Why…?” Ruby croaked out, and still without looking, Neo withdrew the blade from Ruby’s stomach, before swiping at the arm that was linked with Neo’s. It cut straight through Ruby’s right upper arm, and whilst Neo kept a hand on Ruby’s right arm, the red girl staggered back, looking at the stump of a right arm, her eyes wider than golf balls. She was shuddering, and she looked to Neo, who finally returned her gaze, a mournful look on her face.

_I’m sorry I couldn’t stop the monster, Ruby Rose…_

Ruby’s knees hit the ground, before she fell to her left side, passed out, blood pouring from her stomach wounds and her arm stump. Neo held Ruby’s dismembered arm in front of her, the hand still linked with her own. Neo let go of it, and it hit the dirt below her. Neo looked over the passed out Ruby, tears streaming from her eyes again but no sobs to come. _The monster didn’t come out all this way for nothing…_

Suddenly, a whooshing sound echoed from Neo’s right side, and she could’ve blocked, but she merely stood still as Weiss struck from the right, knocking Neo into a tree, winding her. Weiss looked at the passed out Ruby in horror, her right arm had been cut off, and it lay a few meters away from her. _I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough…_ Weiss stood in front of Ruby’s unconscious body, holding out her weapon as far as it can go.

“You can take my soul, take my arms, take my legs, take my heart, or even take my _heart_ , Neo…” Weiss shuddered as some tears fell from her cheeks. She swallowed down the lump in her throat, before choking out those last words. “But for the love of _God…_ Don’t lay another finger on her.”

Neo locked eyes with Weiss, and she could tell the Ice Queen was scared. _You think you can kill the monster? You’re as foolish as the rest of them… I’ve already said it. The only one that can kill this monster… Is me._

Neo grabbed both ends of her blade, before taking them apart and summoning the pistols. She then dropped one pistol to the ground, and Weiss raised a brow. _Why is she handicapping herself like that?_

Neo smiled, tears streaming from her cheeks, and the rain grew softer. _I’m coming, Roman… I’m coming to see you again… I won’t ever leave you again…_ Neo, her hand shaking, started to raise the pistol, pointing it at herself. Weiss’ eyes slowly widened as soon as she realized what was happening. “W-Wait! Stop!”

Neo kicked Weiss away, sniffling as she raised the gun to the side of her head. She looked up to the stars in the sky, a smile on her face. _The monster has to die… But in order for it to be slain… I must sacrifice myself…_

Weiss slowly got onto her feet, and looked up to Neo, knowing she couldn’t possibly stop her. She closed her eyes, looking away from the sight that was about to occur. Neo wrapped her finger on the trigger, before letting out her last thoughts.

_That’s a sacrifice… I’m willing to make._

Neo then fired, and the gunshot echoed throughout the entire forest. Her limp body immediately hit the ground, sprawled on its side, the gun still in hand. Neo’s expression and eyes grew blank, before she then closed her eyes. Then, it was all over.

Neopolitan was dead.

Weiss slowly opened her eyes, looking at Neo’s limp body, a solemn expression on her face. Footsteps sounded from behind, and Weiss looked to see Qrow running in, weapon drawn. He looked to see Ruby’s unconscious body, and ran over to it, picking it up. “Sweet Jesus… Weiss, what happened?” Qrow asked. Weiss closed her eyes, sighing.

“In the end, the only one that could kill her… Was herself.” Weiss spoke softly, and with those words, the rain ceased. Qrow looked over to Neo’s body, before immediately looking away. He picked Ruby up, carrying her to Mistral, taking her Crescent Rose as well. “Is Ruby going to be okay?”

“She’s bleeding a lot… But I’ll get her to a hospital. She’ll be alright.” Qrow said as he started to run. Weiss went to go after them, but stopped, turning around to look at Neo’s corpse. She slowly walked over to the body, looking down at it, before wrapping an arm under Neo’s back and legs, picking her up. Weiss looked at her blank, dead face, before walking away to Mistral.

All that was left in the forest was puddles of wet blood in different locations, and two pistols.

* * *

 

Qrow emerged from the bushes, and everyone caught a glimpse of what had happened to Ruby as he sprinted past. Yang’s eyes were wide, and she covered her mouth with both hands, tears building up in her eyes. What had happened to her had happened to Ruby. She failed to protect her little sister. She looked down at her right arm, only the stump was there as her bionic arm had been cut off by Neo earlier was getting set to be reattached. Blake was carrying Yang to the hospital, and kissed the blonde on the cheek, comforting her.

“Where’s Weiss?” Nora asked. Right on time, the bushes moved apart, and Weiss emerged, carrying the corpse of Neo in her arms. Everyone’s eyes widened, and Yang immediately asked the question everyone had on their mind.

“Weiss… Did you…?” Yang asked, to which Weiss shook her head.

“No… She did this to herself.” Weiss answered. Yang felt chills go down her spine, and she slowly looked away. Pyrrha kept a straight face as she saw Neo’s body, before she placed a hand on Yang’s shoulder.

“I’m sure Ruby will be alright. She wouldn’t have lost too much blood.” Pyrrha smiled. Yang nodded, sniffling as she looked up to the hospital before her.

“It’s finally over.” Jaune said. He wrapped an arm around Pyrrha’s shoulder, comforting her. “I’m sorry about what happened to Thetis…”

“I’ll mourn tomorrow.” Pyrrha immediately answered, holding back the buckets of tears that could erupt. “For now… We should just focus on resting and healing ourselves… And Weiss… Take Neo in, too. They’ll… Bury her somewhere.”

Weiss nodded, and as everyone entered the hospital, the Ice Queen looked up to the sky, the sun beaming on the horizon. She looked at Neo’s face, and slowly, a smile emerged on her face at the realization of what Neo wanted.

“At least she’s with Roman, now.”


	12. Keep Moving Forward

Light. Pure light blinded Ruby’s silver eyes as she slowly awoke, and she squinted them, raising a hand to block the white ceiling lights burning her eyes. She knew she was in a hospital bed, and she looked down to find the blue colored gown. “R-Ruby! You’re finally awake!” A male voice sounded from her side, echoing in her ears and making them ring. She winced at the sudden noise, and a hand on was immediately placed on her shoulder. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just… Relieved to see you’re okay. I came as soon as I heard what happened to you.”

Ruby looked over to see who it was and as the light from her eyes cleared up, she saw the familiar blonde hair of her father, Taiyang. “Hey, dad…” Ruby croaked out. The arm raised above her head then came into focus, and she saw it wasn’t the familiar pale skin she was used to. It was made up of wires and various steels and metals, much like Yang’s. She turned it around, looking at all sides, her arms wide with shock. “W-Wha…”

“You… Got the same injury as Yang. Neo took your arm when you were trying to help her, as Weiss told me. Thankfully, you’ve also got the same treatment as Yang. She got used to it quickly, so it’ll feel natural soon, I promise.” Taiyang explained. Ruby curved her bionic fingers, pressing them softly against her face, feeling the cold steel. A single tear ran down her cheek, soaking into the arm, and Taiyang immediately wrapped both arms around his daughter, holding her close to his chest. “It’s… It’s not easy seeing you both like this. I can’t imagine how it feels for you.”

“I’m sorry, dad…” Ruby returned the hug, her chin rested on his shoulder. It was then that the door opened, and Ruby saw the familiar white haired girl enter, creaking it open slightly. Her eyes widened at the sight of Ruby finally awake, and she ran over to her side, clinging onto her bedside pole. “How long have I been out for?” Ruby asked.

“It’s been a bit over twelve hours now.” Weiss answered. Ruby saw that the clock was at 7:47 PM, meaning it had been at least two nights. Ruby suddenly jolted, looking to Weiss.

“Are Blake and Jaune…?” She asked.

“Yes, we got them to Thetis just fine.” Weiss answered. She looked solemnly at the ground the next second, sighing. “Unfortunately… Thetis didn’t make it. Reviving two people not in her bloodline took her life.”

Ruby’s eyes widened, and she slowly looked at her bedsheets, softly gripping them. “I…”

“It’s tough news to hear.” Taiyang mourned. “I knew her myself way back when. Next to your mother, she was the kindest woman I knew.” He said. Ruby closed her eyes, shaking her head solemnly. “Ruby…?”

“I’m sick of losing everyone.” She admitted. There was some silence afterwards as Weiss and Taiyang looked to each other. “It just seems like anyone I get attached to gets killed… I feel like I’m a curse to everyone… I nearly got uncle Qrow killed a few weeks ago… I lost Penny… I just…” Ruby choked up. “How long until I lose both of you?”

“You won’t.” Taiyang immediately answered. Weiss placed a hand on Ruby’s cheek, moving her head to face the ice queen. She leaned forward; pushing her lips against Ruby’s softly, kissing her as deeply as she could. They both closed their eyes, taking in each other, before Weiss slowly separated from Ruby.

“That kiss was a promise kiss. A promise that I, nor anyone else, is going to die from now on. We’re going to take down whatever stands in our way and restore Remnant. I promise.” Weiss spoke sternly. Ruby closed her eyes for some time, taking in those words, before a smile slowly appeared on her face. She locked her silver eyes with Weiss’ own.

“Thank you.” She whispered. Weiss bought Ruby in for a hug, and soon enough, Taiyang chuckled, interrupting the girls. They both looked to Ruby’s father as he crossed his arms, and at the same time, a blush appeared on their faces. Ruby awkwardly smiled up at her father. “Uhm… Meet my girlfriend, dad. We kinda got a thing going on a day ago.”

“So I can see.” Taiyang responded. He looked to Weiss for a bit, before looking to Ruby. “And I hear Yang’s got a thing going on with Blake?”

Ruby slowly nodded, and Taiyang couldn’t help but laugh at the fact their entire team had gotten in a relationship with _each other_. “Well, it’s not like I disapprove of it, but that has got to be the best team relationship I’ve ever seen. Your four are gonna go far as long as you stick together from now on. None of this split-up nonsense. Don’t make the same mistake my team did.” Taiyang lectured, to which both girls nodded. Taiyang rubbed Ruby’s hair, before walking to the door. “I’m gonna go check up on Yang. I’ll see you later, Ruby.”

“See ya, dad!” Ruby called out. Ruby then looked to Weiss, and her expression shifted to genuine love for the girl. She raised her bionic right hand, caressing her cheek softly and pushing her forehead against hers.

“I’m just so glad you’re okay.” Weiss whispered. She wasted no time pushing her lips against Ruby’s, and they held the lock for as long as they could. It felt like eternity, and it was an eternity they could both stay in just fine… With nothing but their love to keep them company.

* * *

 

“Looks like someone isn’t patient with recovery.” Taiyang commented as he caught Yang off guard, currently using a clothes bar as a chin-up bar. She turned her head to look at her father, before sighing, lowering herself slightly, turning to face him.

“My knees are fine and I don’t feel sore in the slightest. I’m perfectly- _Ow!_ ” She winced as she took the first step towards Taiyang, clutching her sides. She had gotten her arm repaired and put back on her body, so she didn’t completely lose her balance. Taiyang stepped towards her, standing over the blonde girl. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything. I think a nicer thing to say is ‘Hi, dad. It’s nice to see you took the time out of your day to travel halfway across Remnant to visit my injured ass in hospital because I’m not sensible enough to back away when my aura is down.’ But with your stubbornness, I doubt even half of those words will _ever_ come out of your mouth.” Taiyang teased as he held out a hand for Yang. She scoffed, smiling as she took it. He raised her up and she immediately hugged him.

“Thanks for coming. I was getting lonely.” Yang said as he returned the hug. “Have you seen Ruby yet? Is she alright?”

“She’s got a new arm just like yours. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that they had a back-up arm ready _just for you_.” Taiyang said. Yang immediately pushed her dad away from the hug, and he chuckled, rubbing his chest where he was shoved. Yang immediately went back to her chin-ups, and Taiyang placed a hand on his hip.

“Maybe don’t push me away just yet. I bought someone you might want to see.” Taiyang said. Yang immediately looked over her shoulder to see her favorite Faunus in a blue hospital gown, her hands linked at the front of her waist.

“Blake!” Yang called out, immediately running to her and throwing herself into a hug. Blake cried out at the sudden force. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Yang apologized, but Blake soon returned the embrace, comforting Yang. She rested in Blake’s arms, sighing with relief.

“I’m so happy you’re okay…” Blake smiled. Yang backed away from Blake, before wrapping a hand at her neck and bringing her in for a sudden kiss, this one much more desperate than Ruby and Weiss’. Yang pushed against the back of Blake’s neck, before wrapping both arms around her back and bringing her body close to her.

“Hey, whoa, get a room, you two!” Taiyang cried out, holding out both his arms and blocking the sights. Yang broke away from the kiss, turning and glaring at her dad.

“You are the worst!” She growled, hitting him in the arm and causing him to cry out in pain, chuckling afterwards as he rubbed the sore spot in his arm.

“You hit hard! You sure as hell didn’t lose any strength with those injuries. It’s good to see my girl is as strong as always.” Taiyang smiled. He walked towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder and kissing her on the forehead. “I’m glad my girls are okay.” He smiled.

“Can… Can I go see Ruby?” Yang asked, and Taiyang nodded, immediately leading the blonde girl to Ruby’s room. Blake followed, and Yang was quite relieved at the fact it was just down the hall. She placed her bionic hand on the door handle, and opened. “Hey, sis! You’re finally…”

Yang cut off as she noticed that both Ruby and Weiss gasped, and Weiss stepped away from the bed, sitting in the chair behind her, a blush coming to both their cheeks. Yang crossed her arms, smirking. “Was I… Interrupting something?” She scoffed.

“Not at all!” Weiss immediately answered. “It’s good to see you again, Yang.”

“And it’s good to know you can treat my sister _just_ right.” Yang winked at the ice queen, and her blush immediately returned, and she struggled to find words to say back.  Yang turned to Ruby as Weiss stammered and stuttered. “How you feeling?”

“Tired… And weak…” Ruby admitted. She raised her right arm, showing it off. It was nearly the exact same as Yang’s, and her smile immediately dropped at the sight of _that_ arm on _her_ sister. She slowly stepped forward, raising her own biotic arm, and she linked hands with Ruby’s. The soft metal clacked together, and she linked fingers with her sister. “Dad…” Ruby squeaked out, and Yang turned her head to face Taiyang, who had his arms crossed and a stern expression upon his face.

“We’re sorry, dad… We’re sorry you have to see us like this.” Yang finished off Ruby’s words. Taiyang’s expression didn’t change, and he simply stepped forward, wrapping an arm around both of his daughter’s shoulders.

“I don’t ever want to hear you two say anything like that again.” He said sternly. “These arms… These are signs you fought for what was right and you fought hard for it. I couldn’t be prouder of you both.” He smiled. Yang and Ruby took a few seconds to take those words in, before hugging their father, burying their heads into his chest. He held both girls close to him.

Weiss got besides Ruby, embracing her as well, and Yang looked over Taiyang’s shoulder, smiling at Blake. The two girls made eye contact for some time, and the Faunus simply smiled, shrugging. She joined in the group hug soon after.

After so many days of suffering, pain, fear and torture… It was nice to just have a moment of love between each other. They went from being separated and lost… To finally being together as a team. And as a team, if they continue to stick together… They can accomplish anything.

* * *

 

“So are we gonna talk here, ice queen? Or have I wasted my last two hours?”

Winter laid in her bed, looking out the window, a heap of bandages around her stomach to heal the stabbing wound. “I just… I can’t believe she got to me so easily… I wasn’t there to protect Weiss from her… My foolishness could’ve gotten her killed.”

“You aren’t exactly the best fighter in Remnant, Winter. That girl… She used something you had never fought against, and that’d screw _anyone_ up, trust me.” Qrow told the depressed woman, before taking another swig from his flask. “I already told you, Weiss is fine, and the girl isn’t going to come back any time soon.”

“Qrow, I can’t be the only one suffering in this room.” Winter sighed. She turned her head, before locking eyes with Qrow, a concerned expression upon her face. “You… You lost Thetis…”

“I thought we agreed not to bring her up.” Qrow returned sternly.

“You can’t just drown your pains in a bottle all the time, Qrow! You can let out at the least the smallest piece of emotion every now and then, it’s not illegal!” Winter cried, and Qrow simply looked away, past her eyes and out the window.

“What good would there be in crying? Hm?” Qrow asked, to which Winter remained silent. “Would it bring Thetis back? Summer? Would it make Raven kind? Would it do _anything?_ Because the answer is pretty obvious, it won’t. I’ve learned to let go, Winter. My only concern is protecting my nieces.”

There was some silence, and Qrow simply took another swig from the flask, before Winter spoke. “That… That was all you needed to do. You seem easier now, Qrow.” Winter said, to which Qrow scoffed. Winter sighed, before asking the question that’s been on her mind for some time. “Qrow… Do you… Can we…” She struggled to get the words out, and she eventually decided to go against it. Now was not the time. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Same as always. I’ve mourned, that’s that. Thetis wouldn’t want me to mope. Once we’re out of this hospital, I’ll go back to doing everything I normally do.” Qrow said, and Winter nodded. “You… You should probably focus on improving your combat. I’ve seen worse than that girl, and we’re going to be facing huge threats in future. We need to be the best we can.”

“I’ll… I’ll do that.” Winter returned. The scroll on the table besides Winter started to chine, and Winter leaned over to see it was her father calling. She looked to Qrow, and he shrugged. She answered the scroll, and was immediately met with the voice of her father.

“Winter, I don’t know how many times I have to ask! I’ve sent out search parties and I’ve been trying to contact you! Where is Weiss?! This search is not helping the family or the business!” The voice blasted, and Winter sighed. She thought it’d be actual concern for her and her sister’s well-being, but it was just her father, being as big of a nuisance as usual. Qrow took the scroll, raising it to his lips.

“She’s out on a task, old man. She’ll talk to you… Probably never.” Qrow said, before closing the scroll and hanging up. “You’re welcome.”

“That’s going to cause some trouble in future.” Winter sighed, and Qrow chuckled.

“Yeah, well, he can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.” Qrow mocked, to which Winter slightly snickered. There was some silence, and Qrow soon broke it as soon as she saw the expression upon the girl’s face. “You want to know if we can be a thing again, don’t you?”

“That’s correct…” Winter admitted. Qrow sighed, getting up from his seat and placing his flask in his pocket. “But I know we can’t… Because of your semblance, right?”

“First Summer, now Thetis. Everyone I get attached to… Goes. Leaves. The only reason I don’t want to start things with you is because… I don’t want what happened to them to happen to you.” Qrow admitted, and it didn’t come as much of a surprise to Winter. “My semblance… It’s part of the reason you’re in here right now.”

“I know… I shouldn’t even consider it…” Winter mumbled. She looked up to Qrow. “But… Can you at least not leave me for so long, again? Just promise you’ll be around more?” Winter asked. Qrow kept silent, deciding what to answer with. He eventually decided on leaning down, placing a hand on Winter’s cheek and kissing her. She melted into the kiss quickly, her fingers softly scratching at the back of his neck. Qrow broke away.

“I’ll do my best.” Qrow answered.

That… That was all Winter needed to hear.

* * *

 

Pyrrha Nikos stood before a tombstone she never wanted to stand before her whole life. Her feet rested on soft, wet dirt. The stone before her read the dreaded words.

_Thetis Nikos_  
Beloved Mother, Powerful Warrior.  
Gave her life for the future.

“So… It’s been a full twelve hours now, mom. It’s… It’s been hard.” Pyrrha said, only the wind to answer. “Jaune and Blake came back, so… Your sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Neo eventually ended things… Herself. Committed suicide. Maybe you’ve already made amends with her up there, knowing how kind you are.” Pyrrha chuckled.

There was only silence to reply with, and Pyrrha sighed, looking down at the dirt. “Mom… I promise, in your name, I’m going to do everything I can to finish all this horror… I won’t lose to Cinder again. My team, and team RWBY, and everyone else… We’ll keep going and finish this.” Pyrrha smiled. “It’s… It’s just a shame…” Pyrrha’s smile slowly faded, only to be replaced with wobbling lips. “It’s just a shame you won’t be there to see it…”

Pyrrha held back the tears, her nose burning up and her lips uncontrollable. “I-I’m sorry, I… I’ll try not to cry…” Pyrrha sniffled. “Every time I used to cry… You’d hug me and sing me a song, and… Your voice was so beautiful… I’d sometimes cry on purpose just to hear it…” Pyrrha slightly chuckled. “But… Now I can’t hear it anymore… So there’s no point…”

She just wanted to hear her voice again, to hear _something_ , but there was no point. Thetis, her mother, was gone. No resurrection to bring her back or anything. So Pyrrha just had to say goodbye now, and expect no return. “I bought your weapon… I would try to use it myself but… It doesn’t feel right. It’s definitely for you.”

Pyrrha took the spear from her back, and buried one of its ends in the ground. She took the spear in half, and buried the other end at the opposite side of the grave. She stood back, but it was then she noticed that one of the half’s appeared to actually be a lid. The other half wasn’t the same. “Um… Hope you don’t mind, mom.” Pyrrha said as she grabbed the half, and screwed off the lid, only a small capsule with a chip inside, big enough to fit into a scroll.

Pyrrha grabbed her scroll, inserting the chip in, and soon enough, a video popped up. It was of Thetis, in a hospital room, by herself. She looked the same as always, and Pyrrha noticed the date at the bottom. It was _yesterday’s_ date.

“ _You sure you want to do this? I don’t really see the point._ ” Qrow spoke in the background as Thetis sat in the chair behind her, right in front of the camera.

“ _Just a precaution, Qrow. Nothing more._ ” She answered. She sighed, looking to the camera, and putting on the same beautiful smile. “ _Hey, Pyrrha… I’m recording this because this journey we call life… I think mine is about to come to an end. I’m old, no doubt about that. My fighting isn’t as up to standards as it used to be, unfortunately. So… I’m just making this in the case the worst happens. I know you’ll find this message._ ”

Pyrrha stayed silent, a hand slowly coming to her mouth. “ _Eighteen years have flown by, haven’t they? I still remember the day you were born… Your firs word… First combat session… And I remember holding back the urge to help you build your own weapon, but you did great. I was so proud of you when you went on to become a champion, but… That’s not the reason I love you so much. It’s certainly a part of it, but… There’s a bigger reason._ ”

Thetis took a breath, and slowly, Pyrrha saw a tear come down her cheek. “ _My life was changed by you, Pyrrha. You were the best daughter that anyone could’ve asked for, and there hasn’t been a day in my life for the last eighteen years where I don’t think of you and think of how much I love you. You are a star in the sky, and I have never loved someone as much as you. Your kindness, your care for everyone, how you treat that boy Jaune when everyone else would’ve abandoned him… He even told me you trained him. When I heard him say that… I had never been more proud of you. Most kids your age would ignore someone like him, but you… You helped him. You started to fall in love with him. When you had so many options, you picked the underdog, the weak wolf… And that makes me so happy._ ”

Thetis sniffled, and so did Pyrrha. “ _A connection between mother and daughter is a unique one… And I was so happy to see that we were so close. You don’t know how many Hunters and Huntresses your age completely forget about their parents. That’s why…_ ” Thetis stayed silent. “ _That’s why it was hard to learn that you were gone. And now, thinking of you having that same feeling over me… It’s tearing me apart. When I pass, I know it won’t be easy, because I went through the exact same thing with you. I knew I could revive you just fine, but… The thought of you passing… I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody. But… Now it’s going onto you… And I don’t want that to happen, I’ll fight my damn hardest to live, but… I can’t make promises I can’t keep._ ”

Thetis buried her face in her hand, a few sobs erupting from her. “ _Pyrrha… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… I know that if you’re watching this, I am no longer alive, and I know how it feels. The grief, the guilt, the sorrow… But, I ask you one thing. One thing, my beautiful daughter._ ” Thetis leaned forward, her eyes stinging red. “ _Don’t let this stop your journey. You have so much yet to accomplish, and you and your friends are still young! You can be the heroes of Remnant, I know you can! One day, you, your team, everyone else, is going to end this evil, and you’ll be praised as a hero…_ _And I’ll be watching from up there, and I’ll have the cheesiest smile on my face._ ”

Thetis sniffled yet again, before smile for the last time. “ _I love you, Pyrrha. I’ll miss you. But no matter what…_ ” Thetis kept silent for some time, before letting out her last words.

“ _Keep moving forward._ ”

The video then ended, and Pyrrha watched with wide eyes. Her scroll dropped to the ground, and her knees hit the dirt, her head down. “P-Pyrrha?! Are you alright?!” A familiar male voice sounded from behind, and she recognized it as Jaune. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m… I’m fine…” Pyrrha replied. “It’s just… It’s a terrible day for rain.”

“W-What do you mean?” Jaune asked. “It’s not raining…”

“Yes…” Pyrrha sniffled, and soon enough, Jaune saw tears streak down her cheeks. “It is.”

Jaune wasted no time hugging the girl, burying her head into his chest, and she returned the hug, letting out some sobs and howls. Jaune rubbed circles around her back, comforting her. Pyrrha just needed to let all of this out, but after this, she only needed to do one thing.

Keep moving forward.

* * *

 

“You’ve been listening to that all night.”

Pyrrha sat in the living room of the apartment, nothing but a loose shirt and her underwear on, holding her legs close to her chest and sitting on the couch, listening to the recording her mother made over and over again. Jaune leaned against the door into the living room, wearing no shirt and a pair of pants. “It’s all I have left of her…” Pyrrha answered. “Just let me be at peace.”

“I didn’t say it was wrong.” Jaune said. Pyrrha nodded, and the blonde man walked over to her couch, sitting next to Pyrrha.

“I miss her so much, Jaune…” Pyrrha whimpered, leaning her head on his shoulder and cuddling him, to which he returned. “I just… I need you to promise me something, Jaune. You have to keep this promise, I beg of you.”

“What is it, Pyrrha?” Jaune answered. There was some silence, and Jaune looked down to the red haired girl. She looked back up to him, her eyes pleading, at the mercy of his own gaze.

“Don’t die. Whatever you do… Don’t leave me. Please.” She pleaded, her eyes watering with tears. Jaune sighed out of his nose, before cupping her cheek and pushing his lips against hers, kissing her. She closed her eyes to return it, and he soon broke away.

“I promise.” Jaune whispered.

“I just… I need you, Jaune. I love you. I need someone to love and to fight for… I need someone to be there for me when I need it… I need someone who I know I can trust when I feel like I can’t trust anyone else…” Pyrrha croaked out. “I need someone to hug… To kiss… To… To make love…”

“Huh?” Jaune replied. Pyrrha looked back from her feet and into his eyes again. The four-time Mistral champion had never looked so vulnerable her whole life.

“Jaune… I know this is a bold statement to make, but I’ve been thinking about ever since I met you, and even after my mom passed… But it’s been so long, and I’ve missed you so much, and now… Mom…” Pyrrha sniffled. “I just need one night of pure bliss and love, and I need you… Jaune, w-will…” Pyrrha stuttered for a bit, before building up the courage to say what she always wanted to say. “Will you… Be my first?”

There was a long awkward silence after she said that, as they gazed into each other’s eyes, nothing but blushes from them. “I-I know this… This isn’t the best request, especially after last night… But my mom was so happy for me to have you, Jaune, and I… I wouldn’t want anyone else in my life. All I need is one night of pure love and joy… And I can finally start healing.”

Jaune still didn’t answer, and Pyrrha sighed, starting to break away from him. “I-I’m sorry… It was a stupid reque-“

Pyrrha was cut off as Jaune pushed his lips against hers, and her eyes suddenly widened. Her blush soon disappeared, and she closed her eyes, embracing the kiss. Jaune broke away for a few quick moments. “Pyrrha… If it will make you happy, I’d gladly do anything. It’s… It’s actually my first time, too.” He chuckled, to which Pyrrha slightly returned. They smiled at each other for a bit, before returning to the kiss.

Jaune slowly started to lie on his back, Pyrrha atop him, her chest pushed against his. Her shirt soon came off, revealing she had no bra underneath it this whole time. Their bare skin softly rubbed and smoothed together, her skin was like silk to his hardened one. Her lips were bliss, and his were an escape. Jaune went for Pyrrha’s neck, his lips and teeth scraping against it, bringing pleasure to the girl. She gasped at the move, rubbing her dirty hands only his back, tracing the muscles.

Jaune’s pants were soon off, and so was her underwear, and for the first time, they had seen each other naked. It was awkward; no doubt about it, but it was also extremely beautiful. She was as gorgeous as always, and her body was absolute perfection, beauty at its finest. Pyrrha Nikos was always beautiful, but this… This took it to a new level. Jaune looked handsome himself. He always had a certain dorky attraction about him, and Pyrrha loved that. His body was gorgeous too. Not overly muscly and bulky, just the right level. Defined chest, his shoulders were heaven, and his face… Pyrrha loved grazing her hands against his cheeks and feeling the warmth.

“Jaune…” Pyrrha spoke. “I really needed this after everything that has happened… Losing my mother and almost losing you… It tore me apart. But now… Now I can do this with you… And my peace is made with my mother…” Pyrrha smiled at the boy. “Thank you.”

“I love you, Pyrrha.” Jaune returned, and she repeated his words, kissing him. It comforted her as the first entrance was made, and even though she slightly gasped and winced, Jaune’s comforting hugs and kisses were more than enough to help her through, and she fully connected her body to his, making themselves one being.

Pyrrha leaned her upper body down, moving her hips slowly, their joint sex shifting ever so slightly. The pain she soon had was completely gone, only replace by pleasure and love. Jaune traced his fingers all down her body, around the curves and the mounts, the line of her spine on her back.

She pulled her lips away, and they gasped in synchronization, looking down at the attachment they had made with each other. Jaune let out a low groan, and Pyrrha swallowed it with a kiss, moaning into his lips. She was desperate for this, and he knew that.

She started to pick up her pace, her hips moving up and down, up and down, up and down, and he returned the action, going in movement with her, as if some sort of music was happening at the same time. She sat up, leaning her upper body back, her head tilted to face the roof as she let out gasps. Their bodies were covered in sweat, and the pats of skin meeting skin started to sound as Pyrrha moved up and down. Jaune kept his grip on her hips, guiding her softly.

She slightly leaned forward, a smile on her face and her hands on his chest. Jaune’s hands soon went for her backside, squeezing the softness of her beautiful ass. She let out a slight gasp at this action, and she removed one hand from his chest, grabbing his hand and guiding it up her chest, placing it upon her breast. He took the hint, placing the other hand upon the other breast, squeezing and caressing both, bringing much pleasure to her.

Pyrrha leaned down fully yet again, and she stopped her hips, taking the time to appreciate this moment. All the suffering and pain she had earlier… It had been numbed, replaced by love and pleasure. In the end, this is what Thetis would’ve wanted. For her daughter to be happy.

She thanked Jaune by kissing him yet again, and she moved her hips faster than before. They knew from the start they weren’t going to last long, and they both felt their finish approaching. Pyrrha sped herself up, pushing her forehead against Jaune’s, panting and sweating. She heard Jaune grunt as he spent himself, and she was quick to follow, letting out a long gasp with her finish. She halted, gathering the last of her energy to cup Jaune’s cheeks.

They stared into each other’s eyes, and slowly, Pyrrha started to chuckle, her smile returning to her face. “Thank you, Jaune…” She panted as she kissed the man she loved, and he returned the gesture, wrapping a hand around her neck. She rolled off Jaune, holding the kiss and keeping their chests close together. She broke away from the kiss, still slightly laughing, and Jaune returned it. She buried the top of her head into his neck, and due to the exhaustion, she didn’t last long before passing out in his arms.

Jaune held the woman he loved in his arms, and he promised himself to never let go.

* * *

 

**_One Month Later…_ **

The heavy winds blew heavily against Weiss Schnee, dragging her long hair to the side and swaying it in sync with the gusts. She kept her hands within her coat pockets, looking down at grave beneath her feet. Neo’s grave. There was no message, nor date. Just her name, which probably wasn’t even her real name in the first place.

Weiss didn’t have any words to say to the girl. She simply stood and thought. Thought about what could’ve been if Neo had simply just ran, if she had joined their side to fight Cinder. _On the inside, Neo was just scared… She was lonely. She had lost someone she loved, and she was lashing out, which I know we all wanted to do after Pyrrha… She wasn’t morally good, that’s for sure, but… I can’t help but understand how she felt… Maybe her family was similar to mine?_

She let out a breath, and it fogged in the cold winds, blowing away and disappearing. She looked up to the cloudy skies, to where Neo probably was right now. _In the end, though… I don’t think Neo regretted her decision. She’s with Roman now… That’s something she’s always wanted._

“Weiss?” A voice sounded behind the girl, and Weiss turned to see her girlfriend, Ruby. She stood only a few feet away, a sympathetic look on her face. Weiss sighed, looking back down at the dirt below her. “Are you okay?”

“I know she did horrible, horrible things… I know she caused us a lot of pain and suffering. After all, she gave you…” Weiss looked at Ruby’s bionic arm, and Ruby held it up, a look of sadness washing on her face. “But in her final moments, before she ended it… I… I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.”

Ruby walked besides Weiss, and she sighed. “Is that wrong? To feel sorry for someone who caused us so much pain?” Weiss asked. Ruby kept silent for some time, thinking of her answer as the wind kept blowing and swaying, affecting her dark hair.

“I don’t think it is. In the end… I just wish things could’ve been different.” Ruby answered, stretching out her biotic hand and taking Weiss’, interlocking fingers and holding her hand. The metal felt cold, and Weiss was still having trouble getting used to it, but she held Ruby’s hand as tightly as possible as Ruby leaned her head and rested it upon Weiss’ shoulder.

“Well… No matter what it is, I don’t think Neo would want us moping about her…” Weiss let out a light chuckle. “Still… I wish things could’ve been different, too.”

“Keep moving forward.” A raspy voice sounded from behind the two friends, and they turned to see Qrow walking towards them, taking a swig from his flask. “Old friend of mine used to say that… It was after we lost your mother, Ruby. Just like with Thetis or Neo, she wouldn’t want us moping about her forever. She’d want us to go out and keep fighting.” Qrow said. He smiled towards his niece. “She’d be proud of ya, kid.”

“Thanks, uncle Qrow… That means a lot.” Ruby replied. She took a slight breath, before grabbing her hood and putting it on. “I assume you’re here because we need to go?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah. They’re opening the gates to Haven for us, finally. Now that’s everyone’s injuries are mostly healed. Get a move on, kid.” Qrow said, and Ruby nodded, taking Weiss’ hands and running to gates, dragging Weiss along. Qrow watched the two run down the streets of Mistral to group up with everyone else, and he couldn’t help but smile.

_It’s just like you said, Thetis. These kids… They’re gonna go far, they’ll save lives and be heroes. It’s gonna be a long journey, and it’s not going to be an easy road at all. There’ll be some hard times… Times of loss… They’ve already experienced them, in fact._ Qrow eventually caught up with Team RWBY and JNPR as they stood before the large gate to Haven Academy. A loud groan echoed out throughout Mistral as the mechanisms of the gate started opening.

_Heh… Life is a bag of tricks, ain’t it? One minute, it tears us apart and stomps on our hearts, like with Summer and you… But the next, it gives us these small moments, these tastes of sweetness and beauty, like right now… And you realize… Life ain’t all that bad, as long as you people you have are good._ The gates were opened enough for people to start stepping in, and Ruby and Weiss were first, looking at the incredible academy before them. Blake and Yang followed; hand in hand, as the opportunity of a better future glowed before Team RWBY. They had finally reunited, and they were finally back on track.

Next to follow were Jaune and Pyrrha, and although Pyrrha hesitated to leave her mother’s grave, she knew Thetis would want her to keep fighting on in her name. Ren and Nora followed, Nora more excited than usual as she slightly hopped with her step, bringing a smile to Ren’s face. Team JNPR, under the impossible, were finally back together as well, and they moved forward into the Academy.

Qrow watched the two teams enter, and he felt another presence walk up beside him. He looked to see it was Winter, and he couldn’t help but smile and wink at her. She didn’t glare at him, but she simply closed her eyes, a slight smile on her face as she moved into the Academy. Taiyang followed her, crossing his arms and sighing. “Trust me, I know all about ex issues.”

“Keep going, Tai.” Qrow warned, and Taiyang chuckled, moving forward. Qrow watched everyone enter, and as he followed, he felt a more soft and happy feeling than usual. This was probably the lightest he had felt since Summer’s death, and it was a joyous moment for him.

_I believe these kids can go far and beyond, I believe they can push through any hard moments together, I believe they can always be there to lift each other up…_

_I believe these kids can be the heroes of Remnant._

* * *

 

** The End **


End file.
